tihvavy  of  ^he  theological  ^tminary 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

Rufus  H.   LeFevre 

:BX9878 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/ourchurchabroadOOhoug 


Rev.    E.    M.    Hursh, 
West    Africa. 


Rev.    Joseph    Cosand, 
Japan. 


Bishop    A.    T.    Howard. 


,.s^^fck 


Rev.    P.    W.    Drury, 
Porto   Rico. 


I 


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Rev.    H.   W.   Widdoes, 
The    Philippines. 


Rev.    E.   B.   Ward, 
China, 


The  Bishop  and   Superintendents  of   Our  Foreign   Fields. 


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JuN  11  1952 


X^'J'PI QAL  8t^ 


®ur  OIl|urrl^  Abrnab 


BY 
SAMUEL  S.  HOUGH,  D.D. 

Secretary  of 

THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 

UNITED  BRETHREN   IN  CHRIST 


OTTERBEIN  PRESS 
Dayton,  Ohio 


Copyright  by 

UNITED  BRETHREN  PUBLISHING  HOUSE 

Dayton,   Ohio 

1916 


First    Edition    of   Ten    Thousand    Copies 

Published  February,  1916 

Revised  and  Reprinted  October,  1916 


T^O  our    missionaries    and   native 
pastors,  who,  through  the  living 
sacrifice  of  their  lives,  are  planting  the 
church  of  Christ  abroad. 


^,5^ 


CONTENTS 

Chapter 

Preface  Page 

I.     GOD   PREPARING  AMERICA  FOR  WORLD  LEADER- 
SHIP     13 

Religious  Liberty  and  Protestant  Ideals.  Missionaries 
Sent  to  America.  Infidelity  Aggressive.  Evangelical 
Christianity  Winning.  Making  a  Strong  Home  Base. 
Birth  of  Foreign  Missions  in  America.  United  Breth- 
ren Foreign  Missions.  A  Challenge  to  Faith.  A  Cen- 
tury of  Progress. 


II.     BEGINNINGS   AND   GROWTH   ABROAD 34 

Pioneer  Work  and  First  Fruits  1855-1865.  A  Period  of 
Test  1865-1875.  Organizing  and  Extending  the  Work 
1875-1885.  Training  Schools  and  New  Missions  1885- 
1895.  Lengthening  the  Cords  1895-1905.  Remarkable 
Expansion  1905-1915.     Three  Administrative  Bodies. 


II.         CONDITIONS      SURROUNDING      THE      NATIVE 
CHURCH 

China. 

Japan. 

Porto    Rico   and   the   Philippine   Islands. 

Africa. 


IV.     THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK 88 

Winning  Souls  to  Christ.  Self-Support.  Missionary 
Extension.  Producing  a  Christian  Literature.  Train- 
ing Schools.  Co-operation  and  Unity.  Auxiliary 
Agencies.       A    Model    Pastor. 


JOINING  HANDS  WITH  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD  ...  .123 

A  Three-Fold  Vision  Necessary.  Antioch  a  Model 
Church.  Rising  Tide  of  Missionary  Interest.  Our 
Greatest  Needs.  Intercessory  Living-Link  Churches. 
Laymen  Consecrating  Their  Talents  and  Their  IMoney. 
The   Missionary   Prospect. 


PREFACE 

It  is  a  sacred  matter  to  write  or  read  the  story  of 
the  acts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  through  consecrated 
lives.  The  footprints  of  God  are  clearly  seen  as  we 
trace  the  missionary  achievements  of  the  past. 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  set  forth  the  provi- 
dential preparation  of  the  churches  of  America  for 
a  world-wide  missionary  propaganda,  and  to  intro- 
duce to  our  homes  and  churches  the  groiving  native 
churches  in  our  five  foreign  fields. 

Comparatively  little  is  here  said  about  individual 
missionaries,  but  much  emphasis  is  given  to  the 
fruitage  and  glory  of  their  work  as  seen  in  the 
activities  and  victories  of  the  native  Christians. 

There  is  a  growing  desire  for  an  answer  to  such 
questions  as :  Where  can  I  find  a  brief  statement 
of  the  beginnings  and  growth  of  our  work  abroad? 
Wdiat  progress  has  been  made  in  establishing  a  na- 
tive church?  What  are  the  conditions  surrounding 
the  native  Christians?  Are  the  churches  becoming 
self-supporting,  and  are  they  being  taught  to  win 
souls  and  to  extend  the  gospel  privileges  to  their 
own  countrymen?  \\'hat  agencies  have  been  es- 
tablished to  train  native  leaders?  How  can  the 
churches  of  America  co-operate  more  effectively 
with  our  churches  abroad?  The  answers  to  these 
and  other  questions  will  be  found  in  the  chapters  of 
this  little  book. 

I  am  greatly  indebted  to  missionaries  and  others 
for  valuable  material  and  hearty  co-operation ;  and 
to  my  wife,  more  than  to  all  others  combined,  for 
inspiration  and  enriching  suggestions. 


Dayton,  Ohio,  January  21,  1916. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 
The    Bishop    and    Superintendents    of    Our    Foreign    Fields 2 

Bishop  A.    T.    Howard. 

Rev.  E.  M.   Hursh — West  Africa. 

Rev.   Joseph   Cosand — Japan. 

Rev.    P.    W.    Drury — Porto    Rico. 

Rev.    H.   W.   Widdoes — Philippine   Islands. 

Rev.    E.    B.    Ward— China. 

Our    Responsibility    and    Opportunity    Abroad 12 

Philip    William    Otterbein 19 

Missionary     Memorial     Tablet 20 

Our    First    Foreign    Missionaries ol 

Rev.    W.   J.    Shuey. 

Rev.    D.    K.    Flickinger. 

Dr.    D.    C.    Kumler. 

Mrs.    A.    L.    Billheimer. 
Mrs.    Lucy   Caulker   Curtis,    One   of  the  Two    First   Converts....   38 
The    First    Chapel    and    Missionary    Residence    Erected    Abroad..   38 

A  Rescued  Castaway  in  the  Foundling  Home,   China 55 

One   of   Our   Self-Supporting    Congregations 56 

The    Christless    Millions G5 

Worshipping  the  Japanese  Emperor  During  His  Illness 66 

A  Group  of  United  Brethren  Pastors  and   Christians,  Japan 66 

Filipinos  Who  Have  Not  Had   a   Chance 79 

Students  in  the  Young  Women's  Bible  Training  School,  P.   I...   79 
The    Transforming    Power    of   the    Gospel 80 

An  African  Ju  Ju   Leader. 

Rev,    R.    Cookson  Taylor. 

A   Bible   Class   for  Men,   Juana   Diaz,   Porto    Rico 93 

Patients    Waiting   at   the   Dispensary,    Rotifunk,    West    Africa...   93 

Converts    at    Siu    Lam,    China 9-1 

LTnion   Printing   Plant,    Porto    Rico 113 

Editorial  Room  in   Our  Publishing  House,   Philippines 113 

The   Boys'    Grammar   School,    Canton,    China 114 

Our  Kindergarten,  Tokyo,  Japan    114 

Missionary   Group  Leaders,  Annville,  Pa 131 

A    Congregation    in    the    Philippines 132 

United    Brethren    Chapel,    Cava,    P.    1 132 


I 

GOD    PREPARING   AMERICA   FOR 
WORLD  LEADERSHIP 

America  is  the  steward  of  a  great  heritage.  No 
one  can  read  the  story  of  the  coming  of  Prot- 
estant Christianity  to  the  United  States,  and  of 
its  remarkable  growth  in  spite  of  stupendous  dif- 
ficulties, without  having  a  much  larger  apprecia- 
tion of  the  vitality  of  the  world-conquering  gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ,  and  also  a  quickened  sense  of 
our  great  obligation  to  pass  on  to  other  nations 
that  which  has  so  enriched  ours. 

God's  hand  so  clearly  seen  in  the  beginnings 
and  development  of  our  country,  produces  the 
conviction  that  America  has  been  providentiallv 
prepared  to  be  a  mighty  force  in  the  universal 
spread  of  the  gospel  in  this  hour  of  world  crisis 

Religious  Liberty  and  Protestant  Ideals 
Many  of  America's  first  settlers  came  to  this 
country  for  the  purpose  of  securing  religious 
freedom  and  to  publish  evangelical  Christianity. 
The  religion  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers  made  them 
restless.  God  had  spoken  to  them :  "Get  thee 
out  of  thy  country,  and  from  thy  kindred,  and 
from  thy  father's  house,  unto  the  land  that  I  will 
show  thee ;  and  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  na- 
tion."  The  Mavflower  headed  westward  was  but 


14  OUR   CHURCH  ABROAD 

another  exodus  from  a  land  of  persecution  to  the 
land  of  promise,  where  a  new  commonwealth 
was  about  to  be  born  in  which  equal  civil  and 
religious  rights  were  to  be  enjoyed  by  all. 

Later,  the  hand  of  God  was  clearly  revealed  in 
the  triumphs  of  the  British  colonies  over  the 
French  and  Indians.  This  opened  the  way  for 
the  English  language,  religious  liberty,  and  Prot- 
estant missions  to  spread  over  the  vast  territory 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  south  of  the 
Great  Lakes.  This  whole  section  of  our  country 
was  thus  saved,  as  we  shall  see  later,  from  the 
blighting,  aggressive  power  of  French  infidelity. 

Missionaries  Sent  to  America 

A  strong  factor  in  establishing  Christianity  in 
the  United  States  was  the  missionary  propaganda 
carried  on  in  our  country  by  Christian  leaders  in 
England,  Holland,  and  Germany  during  the 
eighteenth  century.  America  was  regarded  as 
one  of  the  most  promising  mission  fields  of  the 
world  two  centuries  ago. 

In  the  year  1701,  there  was  chartered  in  Eng- 
land "The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts."  The  first  missionaries 
sent  by  this  society  to  the  United  States  were 
Revs.  George  Keeth  and  John  Talbott,  who 
landed  at  Boston,  June  11,  1702.  Mr.  Keeth  trav- 
eled from  Maine  to  South  Carolina  on  a  tour  of 
investigation.     He  reported : 

"To  many,  our  message  was  as  the  sowing  of 
seed,  who  probably  never  so  much  as   heard  a 


GOD  PREPARING  AMERICA  15 

sermon  preached  before  we  came.  .  .  .  There 
are  good  materials  prepared  for  the  building  of 
churches,  of  living  stones,  as  soon  as  ministers 
shall  be  sent  among  them." 

Other  missionaries  were  sent  to  different  parts 
of  the  country,  including  Rev.  John  Wesley,  the 
founder  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  This 
English  missionary  society  was  supporting  sev- 
enty-seven workers  in  the  United  States  at  the 
time  of  the  American  Revolution. 

The  society  in  Scotland  "for  Promoting  Chris- 
tian Knowledge"  sent  five  missionaries  to  the 
American  Indians  between  1741  and  1748.  David 
Brinard,  who  conducted  powerful  revivals  among 
the  Indians,  was  supported  by  this  society.  Irish 
Presbyterians  and  the  Moravians  sent  mission- 
aries to  our  country  also  during  this  same  period. 

Holland  Challenges  Germany.  The  destitute 
Dutch  and  German  colonies  in  the  United  States 
sent  earnest  appeals  to  Holland  and  Germany  for 
missionaries.  The  Dutch  Reformed  Church  of 
Holland  was  rich  in  money.  Germany  and  Swit- 
zerland were  rich  in  men,  but  the  devastating 
wars  had  made  them  poor  in  money.  Accord- 
ingly, the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  challenged 
Germany  and  Switzerland  to  furnish  the  men, 
and  they  would  furnish  the  money  to  send  mis- 
sionaries to  America. 

Rev.  Michael  Schlatter  was  accepted  as  a  can- 
didate, and  sent  as  a  missionary  to  Pennsylvania 
in  1746.  After  five  years  of  service,  he  returned 
to  Holland  and  gave  a  report  of  his  missionary 


16  OUR   CHURCH  ABROAD 

work.  He  urged  the  committee  to  send  out  six 
additional  missionaries.  His  report  was  received 
with  much  enthusiasm,  and  he  was  authorized  to 
proceed  to  Germany  to  secure  the  new  workers, 
and  to  offer  to  each  missionary  his  traveling  ex- 
penses to  America  and  a  salary  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty  dollars  a  year.  After  visiting  Her- 
born  and  Heidelberg  universities  and  St.  Gall, 
Switzerland,  without  securing  the  necessary 
workers,  Mr.  Schlatter  returned  again  to  the 
University  of  Herborn.  He  presented  the  vast 
field  for  service  in  the  new  world,  the  spiritual 
destitution  of  the  people,  and  the  urgent  need  of 
missionaries.  He  informed  the  young  men  that 
the  Christians  in  Holland  had  put  up  the  money, 
and  he  urged  them  to  accept  the  challenge  by 
giving  their  lives  to  this  work.  Professors 
Schramm,  Arnoldi,  and  Rau,  of  the  University 
of  Herborn,  were  men  of  deep  spirituality  and  of 
wide  knowledge  of  the  living  movements  of  their 
day.  They  were  leaders  in  the  aggressive  work 
of  the  kingdom  and  were  in  hearty  sympathy 
with  this  missionary  undertaking. 

A  Remarkable  Volunteer  Band.  With  such  a 
spiritual  atmosphere  as  prevailed  at  Herborn,  and 
with  such  aggressive  leadership,  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  Philip  William  Otterbein,  later  the 
founder  of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  Henry 
William  Stoy,  John  Waldenschmidt,  Theodore 
Frankenfield,  John  Jacob  Wissler,  and  John  Cas- 
per Rubel,  the  "flower  of  the  young  ministry  of 


GOD  PREPARING  AMERICA  17 

Nassau,"  stepped  to  the  front  and  volunteered 
for  foreign  service. 

There  was  no  small  stir  among  the  students, 
and  the  brothers  and  other  relatives  of  Mr.  Otter- 
bein,  Avhen  it  was  reported  that  he  had  volun- 
teered for  service  in  America.  His  mother 
"hastened  to  her  closet,  and  after  being  relieved 
by  tears  and  prayers,  she  came  from  her  chamber 
strengthened,  and,  taking  William  by  the  hand 
and  pressing  that  hand  to  her  bosom,  she  said : 
*Go ;  and  the  Lord  bless  thee  and  keep  thee  .  .  . 
and  with  much  grace  direct  thy  steps.  On  earth 
I  may  not  see  thy  face  again,  but  go !'  " 

On  departing  for  his  far-away  field,  the  pro- 
fessors of  Herborn  gave  Otterbein  a  strong  testi- 
monial, which  concluded  as  follows  : 

"We  recommend  him  to  the  protection  of  the 
Almighty,  and  we  pray  that  He  might  give  him 
the  richest  divine  blessings  in  the  work  to  which 
he  has  been  called  and  to  which  he  is  so  willing 
to  go,  and  we  wish  him.  from  the  bottom  of  our 
souls,  success." 

Rev.  Mr.  Schlatter  then  went  with  his  candi- 
dates to  The  Hague  in  Holland,  and  he  thus 
described  some  of  them  to  the  committee : 

"Otterbein,  quiet  and  pious ;  Waldenschmidt, 
honest  and  sincere ;  Stoy,  intelligent  and  kind- 
hearted ;  Wissler,  greatly  gifted  and  generous." 

They  all  passed  a  satisfactory  examination  and 
were  there  consecrated  as  missionaries. 


18  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

The  company  set  sail  for  America,  and  after 
three  and  a  half  months  at  sea,  they  landed  in 
New  York,  July  27,  1752.  Rev.  John  Muhlenberg, 
a  pioneer  missionary  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  on 
meeting  these  new  workers,  addressed  them  in 
the  Savior's  words :  "Behold,  I  send  you  forth 
as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves.  Be  ye  therefore 
wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves." 

Germany  thus  furnished  the  missionaries  while 
Holland  gave  the  money  to  send  them  forth.  In 
all,  thirty-nine  missionaries  were  supported  by 
the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  of  Holland  in  the 
United  States  during  the  eighteenth  century.  To 
the  praise  of  the  unselfish  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  it  should  be  said  that  they  gave  of  their 
money  to  support  not  only  missionaries  to  their 
own  Church  in  the  United  States,  but  to  the  Ger- 
man Reformed  Church  as  well. 

This  early  missionary  efifort  prepared  the  Chris- 
tian church  and  Christian  leaders  in  the  United 
States  to  meet  the  great  tests  that  followed. 

Infidelity  Aggressive 

During  the  period  of  the  American  Revolution, 
the  work  of  the  Christian  churches  was  seriously 
interfered  with,  and  there  was  a  marked  decline 
in  spirituality.  Practically  no  revivals  took  place 
from  1775  to  1795. 

To  make  matters  worse,  a  movement  was 
started  in  France  to  create  books  and  pamphlets 
on  infidelity  and  circulate  them  in  the  United 
States.      Many   infidel    clubs    were   organized    in 


Philip  William  Otterbein 


.-^ 


MISSIONARY  MEMORIAL  TABLET 
Unveiled  at  Otterbein  University  on  May  6,  1915 


GOD  PREPARING  AMERICA  21 

different  parts  of  our  country.  These  were  in 
affiliation  with  similar  organizations  in  France. 
Their  avowed  purpose  was  to  destroy  Christian- 
ity. Their  atheistic  propaganda  was  carried  on 
systematically  and  with  great  persistence.  Some 
of  the  leading  statesmen  and  scholars  were 
among  its  advocates.  The  movement  was  carried 
into  the  colleges,  and  after  a  number  of  years, 
there  were  few  professing  Christians  in  Yale, 
Harvard,  or  Princeton  colleges. 

When  John  Adams  became  President  of  the 
United  States  in  1800,  he  described  the  situation 
as  follows : 

"The  most  precious  interests  of  the  United 
States  are  still  held  in  jeopardy  by  the  dissemina- 
tion of  those  principles  subversive  of  the  founda- 
tion of  all  religious,  moral,  and  social  obliga- 
tions." 

So  powerful  and  wide-spread  w^as  this  move- 
ment that  some  made  the  prediction  that  in  "two 
generations  Christianity  would  altogether  disap- 
pear." 

But  God  raised  up  able,  indigenous  leaders  to 
meet  this  onslaught  of  infidelity,  though  their 
work  had  to  be  carried  on  with  very  meager 
equipment,  for  the  British  authorities  had  refused 
to  allow  English  Bibles  to  be  printed  in  the 
United  States  up  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution, 
and  the  supply  of  Christian  books  and  tracts  was 
very  limited. 


22  OUR   CHURCH  ABROAD 

Evangelical  Christianity  Winning 

Prominent  among  those  who  championed  the 
cause  of  Christianity  was  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight, 
who  became  president  of  Yale  College  in  1795. 
He  found  organized  atheistic  clubs  and  many 
infidels  in  the  school.  Among  the  subjects  for 
class  disputation,  Doctor  Dwight  selected  this 
one,  "Is  the  Bible  the  Word  of  God?"  He  told 
the  students  to  do  their  best.  He  heard  all  they 
had  to  say  and  he  answered  them.  He  advocated 
in  a  convincing  manner  the  fundamental  truths 
of  Christianity.  A  powerful  quickening  from  God 
came  to  the  college,  and  infidelity  skulked  and 
retreated. 

Revivals  of  religion  were  taking  place  in  dififer- 
ent  parts  of  the  country  and  the  tide  was  turning 
in  favor  of  God  and  evangelical  Christianity  at 
the  opening  of  the  past  century. 

Thus,  through  the  sacrifices  and  victories  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  United  States  emerged 
with  the  English  as  the  official  language  and  with 
Protestant  Chrsitianity  fighting  a  winning  battle 
against  infidelity  and  preparing  to  put  on  the  full 
armor  of  God  for  the  evangelization  of  the  whole 
country  and  of  the  world. 

Who  can  imagine  what  the  religious,  political, 
and  social  condition  of  our  country  would  have 
become  had  the  French  gained  the  ascendency 
instead  of  the  English,  with  French  Catholicism 
and  infidelity  in  control?  And  who  can  estimate 
the  importance  of  the  early  missionary  propa- 
ganda in  our  country  and  of  the  far-reaching  work 


GOD  PREPARING  AMERICA  23 

of  Philip  William  'Otterbein,  Francis  Asbury, 
George  Whitefield,  Jonathan  Edwards,  Gilbert 
Tenent,  James  Manning,  Michael  Schlatter,  John 
Muhlenberg,  and  their  co-laborers  during  that 
critical  formative  period? 

Making  a  Strong  Home  Base 

The  victories  of  the  Christian  leaders  in  church 
and  state  during  the  eighteenth  century,  from 
1700  to  1800,  prepared  our  country  as  far  west  as 
the  Mississippi  River  for  an  unparalleled  mission- 
ary propaganda. 

An  Expanding  Mission  Field.  Through  the 
Louisiana  Purchase,  in  1803,  that  vast  and  rich 
territory  between  the  Mississippi  River  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains  came  under  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.  All  of  this  was  then  opened  for  the  first 
time  to  Protestant  missions ;  for  under  Spanish 
and  French  control  Protestant  worship  had  been 
strictly  forbidden,  and  at  the  time  of  this  pur- 
chase, not  a  single  Protestant  church  had  been 
established  west  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

Again,  through  the  exploration  of  Lewis  and 
Clark  in  1805,  the  great  Oregon  country  was 
opened  and  later  became  a  part  of  the  United 
States ;  and  thus  Protestant  missions  had  an  open 
door  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

It  is  estimated  that  not  more  than  five  hundred 
thousand  persons  were  living  west  of  the  Alle- 
gheny Mountains  in  1800.  A  great  stream  of 
emigrants  then  began  to  move  westward.  In  a 
single  month,  a  gate-keeper  on  a  Pennsylvania 


24  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

turnpike  counted  over  five  hundred  wagons  filled 
with  three  thousand  emigrants  going  westward 
over  one  road.  In  1812,  there  were  one  million 
persons  west  of  the  Alleghenies,  and  in  1830,  four 
million. 

Organized  Missionary  Activity.  The  spirit  of 
missionary  activity  and  organization  took  a  firm 
hold  on  the  churches  in  the  East. 

As  early  as  1796,  a  missionary  society  was 
organized  in  New  York.  The  Missionary  Society 
of  Connecticut  was  formed  in  1789;  and  the  year 
following,  the  Massachusetts  Home  Missionary 
Society  was  organized.  From  1801  to  1818,  sim- 
ilar societies  were  formed  in  New  Hampshire, 
Rhode  Island,  Maine,  and  Vermont ;  but  the  field 
of  operations  for  all  these  was  limited  to  Maine, 
Vermont,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania. 

To  meet  the  vast  needs  west  of  the  Alleghenies, 
it  became  apparent  that  the  missionary  societies 
in  the  East  must  increase  their  activities  and 
unite  their  forces.  Accordingly,  in  1812,  the  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Connecticut  missionary  societies 
united  in  sending  Samuel  J.  Mills,  the  hero  of  the 
Haystack  Prayer  Meeting,  and  J.  F.  Shermerhorn 
on  a  tour  of  investigation  west  of  the  Alleghenies. 
They  journeyed  through  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illi- 
nois, and  southward  through  Kentucky,  Tennes- 
see, Mississippi,  and  Louisiana,  counseling  with 
the  governors  of  the  States  and  territories  and 
gathering  the  most  careful  data  of  the  moral  con- 
ditions of  the  people.  In  all  Mr.  Mills  spent 
about  three  years  in  these  tours,  preaching  as  he 


GOD  PREPARING  AMERICA  25 

went  and  forming  Bible  and  tract  societies.  He 
made  the  first  official  report  on  the  spiritual  con- 
dition of  the  people  west  of  the  Alleghenies.  His 
report,  which  made  a  profound  impression  on  the 
Christian  leaders  of  the  East,  concluded  as  fol- 
lows : 

"This  vast  country  contains  more  than  a  mil- 
lion inhabitants.  Their  number  is  every  year 
increased  by  a  mighty  flood  of  emigrants.  There 
are  districts  containing  from  twenty  to  fifty  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  entirely  destitute.  'xAnd  how 
shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher?'  " 

In  response  to  this  appeal,  twelve  preachers 
were  sent  out  from  Massachusetts  immediately, 
and  others  followed  year  by  year. 

Many  pioneer-preachers,  in  all  the  communions 
of  the  East,  plunged  into  the  moral  wilderness 
of  the  West  on  their  own  initiative,  without  being 
supported  by  any  society  or  conference.  More 
than  a  dozen  Uriited  Brethren  preachers  were 
thus  at  work  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  when  Mills 
made  his  famous  missionary  tours.  It  was  largely 
through  this  individual  effort  that  the  Miami 
Conference  was  formed,  in  1810,  and  the  Mus- 
kingum, in  1818. 

But  the  onward  march  of  the  population  into 
the  States  and  Territories  west  of  the  Alleghenies 
made  it  more  and  more  clear  that  their  spiritual 
needs  could  not  be  met  without  more  statesman- 
like missionary  plans. 

Agencies  Multiplied.  The  American  Bible  So- 
ciety,   formed    in    1816,    the    American    Sunday 


26  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

School  Union,  in  1817,  and  the  American  Tract 
Society,  in  1825,  became  powerful  agencies  for 
the  reinforcement  of  missionary  work. 

Many  denominations  organized  active  home 
missionary  societies  during  the  years  from  1819 
to  1850.  The  Presbyterian,  Congregational, 
Dutch  Reformed,  and  Associate  Reformed 
churches  united  in  forming  "The  American 
Home  Missionary  Society,"  in  1826.  This  so- 
ciety, in  1829,  sent  sixty-two  missionaries  into 
Ohio,  eighteen  to  Indiana,  twelve  to  Illinois,  ten 
to  Michigan,  and  nineteen  to  other  western 
States  and  Territories. 

The  United  Brethren  Church  organized  twelve 
conference  home  missionary  societies  from  1838 
to  1848.  Some  of  these  contributed  funds  for 
missionary  work  in  the  far  West. 

Printing  and  publishing  agencies,  Sunday- 
school  boards,  and  church-erection  societies, 
Young  People's  societies,  and  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Associations  and  Young  Women's  Christian 
Associations  began  to  be  organized  to  help  for- 
ward the  great  work.  Many  denominational 
colleges  and  theological  seminaries  and  other 
schools  were  established  for  the  training  of 
Christian  leadership. 

The  growth  in  Protestant  church  membership 
from  one  decade  to  another  throughout  the  cen- 
tury, was  most  inspiring. 


GOD  PREPARING  AMERICA  27 

Birtli  of  Foreign  Missions  in  America 

Having  received  missionary  aid  from  other 
countries,  the  churches  of  the  United  States  early 
recognized  the  obligations  and  privileges  of  send- 
ing the  gospel  to  non-Christian  lands. 

The  American  foreign  missionary  movement 
had  its  birth  in  a  student  prayer  meeting  at  Wil- 
liams College,  Massachusetts,  in  1806,  at  which 
Samuel  J.  Mills,  after  prayer  and  counsel  with 
four  associates,  made  his  famous  declaration, 
"We  can  do  it  if  we  will."  This  led  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions,  in  1810.  In  the  work  of 
this  board,  the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed 
churches  united  for  some  years  with  the  Con- 
gregational Church. 

The  Massachusetts  legislature  at  first  refused 
to  grant  a  charter  to  this  foreign  missionary  so- 
ciety on  the  ground  that  "America  has  no  religion 
to  export."  The  Christian  leaders  are  said  to 
have  replied,  "Religion  is  a  commodity  of  which 
the  more  you  give  away  the  more  you  have  left." 

After  reconsidering  the  matter,  the  legislature 
granted  the  charter,  and  this  society  sent  Gordon 
Hall,  Samuel  Newell,  Samuel  Nott,  Jr.,  Luther 
Rice,  Adoniram  Judson,  in  1812,  to  India  and 
Burmah  as  America's  first  foreign  missionaries. 

The  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society  was 
organized  in  1814.  The  Methodists  began  foreign 
missionary  work  in  1832.  Many  other  commun- 
ions organized  foreign  missionary  societies  from 
1835  to  1850. 


28  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

United  Brethren  Foreign  Missions 

Many  of  the  leaders  of  the  United  Brethren 
Church  were  early  interested  in  foreign  missions. 
While  a  number  of  sporadic  efforts  were  made 
from  1840  to  1850,  the  first  local  foreign  mission- 
ary society  in  the  denomination  was  formed  in 
Otterbein  University,  at  Westerville,  Ohio,  in 
1852.  In  commemoration  of  this  fact,  and  in 
recognition  of  the  fifty  students  who  have  gone 
out  from  Otterbein  University  to  foreign  mission 
fields,  a  bronze  tablet  was  unveiled  at  the  Sixtieth 
Anniversary  Meeting  of  the  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  held  in  Westerville,  Ohio,  May  6,  1915. 

Some  months  after  the  action  at  Otterbein 
University,  the  Sandusky  Conference  organized 
a  foreign  missionary  society  and  petitioned  the 
General  Conference  as  follows : 

"Resolved,  That  our  delegates  to  the  ensuing 
General  Conference  (1853)  are  instructed  to  pray 
said  Conference  to  take  such  measures  as  will 
create  an  effective  foreign  missionary  society; 
that  we,  as  a  Church,  may  confidently  look  for- 
ward to  the  time,  not  far  distant,  when  the 
Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ  will 
have  active  missionaries  in  foreign  lands." 

Early  in  October,  1852,  the  Scioto  Conference 
formed  a  foreign  missionary  society,  and  a  week 
later,  the  Muskingum  Conference  took  similar 
action  and  voted  the  following: 

"That  we  congratulate  our  friends  at  Wester- 
ville for  waking  up  the  foreign  missionary  enter- 
prise, and,   although  few  and   feeble,  yet  it  has 


GOD  PREPARING  AMERICA  29 

resulted,  as  we  believe,  effectively  in  waking  up 
action  in  some  of  our  annual  conferences." 

The  Allegheny  Conference,  on  January  7,  1853, 
formed  the  "Allegheny  Conference  General  For- 
eign Heathen  Missionary  Society."  It  seemed 
difficult  to  get  the  churches  to  undertake  actual 
foreign  missionary  work  as  distinct  from  frontier 
work,  and  hence  special  emphasis  was  placed  on 
both  foreign  and  heathen  in  the  name  of  this 
society. 

A  General  Missionary  Society  Organized.  At 
the  General  Conference  in  May,  1853,  ''The 
Home,  Frontier,  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ'*  was  organizea 
and  a  constitution  adopted  which  remained  prac- 
tically unchanged  down  to  1905,  when  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  created  "The  Home  Missionary 
Society"  and  "The  Foreign  Missionary  Society" 
as  separate  and  distinct  organizations. 

Some  of  the  strongest  personalities  of  the 
Church  were  associated  with  the  origin  and  de- 
velopment of  our  missionary  work.  Bishops 
Glossbrenner,  Edwards,  and  Weaver  were  early 
promoters,  and  each  served  for  a  period  as  pres- 
ident of  the  board.  Rev.  J-  B.  Ressler  was  the 
secretary  of  the  committee  which  prepared  and 
reported  to  the  General  Conference  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  society.  Dr.  Lewis  Davis  was  the 
chairman  of  the  first  Executive  Committee. 

But  the  one  who  did  most  to  arouse  the 
Church  to  action,  was  Rev.  John  C.  Bright,  who 
served  as  the  first  secretary  of  the  society. 


30  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

Aims  and  Purposes.  The  clear  insight  and  deep 
convictions  of  the  first  directors  of  our  foreign 
missionary  work  are  revealed  in  the  aims  and 
purposes  they  announced  at  the  first  meeting  of 
the  society,  held  at  Westerville,  Ohio,  June  1, 
1854: 

"That  this  Missionary  Board  will  make  it  a 
primary  object  to  give  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  all 
men  in  all  countries  in  its  unmixed  and  original 
purity. 

''That  we  are  more  than  ever  convinced  of  the 
obligations  resting  upon  us  as  ministers  of  Him 
who  said,  'Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gosepl  to  every  creature,'  and  also  as  members 
of  the  Christian  church  in  general,  to  give  the 
gospel,  the  whole  gospel,  to  the  heathen  abroad 
as  well  as  to  our  fellow  countrymen  at  home. 

"That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Board,  one  of  the 
first  duties  of  the  missionary  after  arriving  in 
a  heathen  country  is  to  apply  his  mind  to  acquire 
a  knowledge  of  the  language  or  dialect  of  the 
natives,  so  that  he  may  be  able  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible to  speak  to  the  people  in  their  own  tongue 
and  without  an  interpreter. 

"That  we  place  but  little  confidence  in  the 
building  up  of  missionary  schools  for  the  purpose 
of  teaching  the  heathen  a  foreign  language  and  a 
foreign  literature ;  yet  we  advise  our  missionaries 
as  soon  as  practicable,  to  erect  schools  for  the 
purpose  of  teaching  the  heathen  a  more  perfect 
knowledge  of  their  own  language,  and  the  ordi- 
nary  science    pertaining   to    civilized    life.      And 


GOD  PREPARING  AMERICA  31 

also  by  the  aid  of  their  schools  let  the  Scripture 
be  given  to  the  heathen  in  the  language  wherein 
they  were  born,  as  soon  as  possible. 

"That,  while  we  believe  it  will  be  many  years 
before  our  missions  in  heathen  countries  will 
become  self-supporting,  yet  we  will  labor  to  pro- 
duce this  result  as  soon  as  possible. 

"That  we  do  most  earnestly  and  affectionately 
request  all  our  ministers  and  members  of  the 
Church  to  make  it  a  regular  business  to  pray  for 
the  success  of  the  missionaries,  and  particularly 
for  those  of  our  dear  brethren  who  may  be  endur- 
ing the  hardships  and  privations  incident  to  a 
missionary  life  in  an  uncivilized  country." 

Going  and  Groziing 

Immediately  following  the  organization  of  our 
missionary  society,  a  remarkable  period  of  mis- 
sionary and  evangelistic  activity  took  hold  of 
our  denomination,  and  within  eight  years  there- 
after the  communicant  membership  of  the  Church 
more  than  doubled,  increasing  from  forty-seven 
thousand,  in  1853,  to  ninety-four  thousand  four 
hundred   and  fifty-three,   in   1861. 

The  Woman's  Missionary  Association,  organ- 
ized in  1875,  became  a  powerful  agency  in  the 
education  and  enlistment  of  the  women,  girls, 
and  children  of  the  Church  in  the  extension  of 
the  kingdom. 

A  Challenge  to  Faith 
It  was  a  great  challenge  to  faith   to  attempt 
the    work    of    foreign    missions    in    the    United 


32  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

States  at  the  beginning  of  the  past  century ; 
for  at  that  time,  as  already  mentioned,  there 
was  not  a  single  Protestant  church  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  and  there  were  but  few 
churches  in  the  East  and  most  of  these  were  with- 
out equipment.  The  achievements  of  God  in  the 
United  States  and  in  all  the  world  as  a  result  of 
the  century's  work,  abundantly  justify  the  wis- 
dom of  the  early  leaders  in  developing  missionary 
work  for  America  and  for  the  non-Christian 
lands  simultaneously,  thus  lengthening  the  cords 
and  strengthening  the  stakes  at  the  same  time. 
For  the  United  States,  the  century  was  one  of 
remarkable  growth  in  population,  and  still  more 
remarkable  in  missionary  achievements.  The 
population  of  the  United  States  increased  nine- 
teen-fold  from  1800  to  1916,  growing  from  five 
million  three  hundred  and  eight  thousand,  to  one 
hundred  million.  The  Protestant  church  mem- 
bership multiplied  sixty-eight-fold  during  the 
same  time,  increasing  from  three  hundred  and 
sixty-four  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy- 
two,  to  twenty-five  million. 

A  Century  of  Progress  Abroad 
The  century  brought  marvelous  transforma- 
tions in  foreign  mission  fields.  Messengers  of  God 
have  gone  into  all  parts  of  the  world ;  continents 
have  been  explored ;  highways  established ;  lan- 
guages reduced  to  writing;  and  the  Word  of  God 
has  been  translated  into  six  hundred  different  lan- 
guages and  dialects.     Schools  and  medical  work 


GOD  PREPARING  AMERICA  33 

have  been  established  and  a  native  church  has 
arisen  in  each  foreign  field,  which  now  aggregates 
in  membership  three  million  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  souls.  In  addition,  there  are  more 
than  four  million  adherent  church  members. 
Much  of  the  foundation  work  for  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  non-Christian  world  has  been  accom- 
plished. A  great  harvest  of  souls  is  being 
gathered. 

A  new  world  now  confronts  the  Christian 
churches  of  America.  Since  the  beginning  of  the 
European  war,  the  waiting  millions  in  non-Chris- 
tian lands  look  to  our  country  as  to  no  other  for 
Christian  leadership.  Our  country  has  been 
blessed  to  be  a  blessing.  The  inspiring  work  of 
our  own  missionaries  and  their  native  associates 
in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  destitute  lands,  will  be  given  in  the  chapters 
that  follow. 


II 

BEGINNINGS   AND    GROWTH   ABROAD 

The  Christian's  chief  possession  and  the  world's 
greatest  need  is  Christ.  The  greatest  privilege  of 
the  Christian  is  to  share  this  great  possession 
with  the  hungry,  waiting  world. 

No  student  of  God's  Word  or  close  follower  of 
Jesus  Christ  will  question  for  a  moment  that 
Christ's  coming  and  work  of  redemption  were 
for  a  world,  nor  will  such  a  one  have  a  lower  aim 
for  his  life  than  had  his  Master. 

''The  church  was  established,"  say  Robert  E. 
Speer,  "to  spread  Christianity ;  and  when,  in  any 
age  or  in  any  land,  she  has  forgotten  this,  she 
has  paid  for  her  disobedience.  So  long  as  there 
are  any  unreached  men  in  the  world  or  any 
unreached  life,  the  business  of  the  church  is  her 
missionary  duty."  Christ  made  this  unmistak- 
ably clear  when  he  said : 

"As  the  Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I 
you." 

"Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gos- 
pel to  every  creature." 

"If  ye  love  me,  ye  will  keep  my  command- 
ments." 

Africa  Chosen  First  Field.  It  was  solely  in  the 
spirit  of  loyalty  and  obedience  to  Jesus  Christ 
that   our   fathers    undertook   the    great   work   of 


BEGINNINGS  AND  GROWTH  ABROAD       35 

carrying  the  g-ospel  to  the  non-Christian  world 
at  a  time  when  our  Church  numbered  but  forty- 
seven  thousand  members.  It  was  not  theirs  to 
question  the  expediency  of  such  a  move.  Theirs 
was  the  duty  to  obey  Christ.  So,  with  genuine 
heroism,  they  chose  Africa  as  our  first  foreign 
field,  "because,"  as  they  said,  *'it  is  the  most 
needy  field,  and  the  one  most  difficult  to  culti- 
vate." 

At  the  first  session  of  the  Missionary  Society, 
at  AVesterville,  Ohio,  Tune  1,  1854,  Rev.  W.  J. 
Shuey  was  appointed  to  locate  a  mission  in  Africa. 
The  Executive  Committee,  in  November  follow- 
ing, appointed  Rev.  D.  K.  Flickinger  and  Dr.  D. 
C.  Kumler  as  missionaries  to  accompany  Mr. 
Shuey.  They  set  sail  from  New  York,  January  23, 
and  they  landed  at  Freetown,  West  Africa,  Feb- 
ruary 26,  1855.  To  the  civilized  world,  Africa 
was  then  but  little  more  than  a  huge  interroga- 
tion point.  Its  vast  area,  greater  in  extent  than 
the  United  States,  China,  and  India  combined, 
was  filled  with  hundreds  of  tribes  who  had  never 
seen  a  white  man. 

Pioneer  Work  and  First  Fruits 
1855-1865 
*  Our  early  missionaries  had  to  open  the  work 
amid  strange  and  most  depressing  conditions. 
The  half  of  what  they  suflfered  in  hardships, 
fevers,  and  loneliness  has  never  been  told.  Soon 
after  landing  in  Africa,  they  made  frequent  trips 
of  investigation  by  small  boat  for  the  purpose  of 


36  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

finding  a  location  for  the  mission.  Mokelli,  on 
the  Jong  River,  was  finally  selected  as  the  first 
station.  The  town  was  diflicult  of  access  and  did 
not  fully  satisfy  those  who  selected  it.  Illness 
befell  the  little  party  of  missionaries,  and  by  the 
end  of  fifteen  months  they  had  all  returned  to 
America ;  so  the  work  was  not  opened  at  this 
point. 

Conditions,  in  general,  in  Sierra  Leone  were 
found  so  discouraging  and  dark  that  the  board, 
at  its  meeting  in  June,  1856,  passed  the  following 
resolution : 

"We  would  not  conceal  the  fact  that  the  moral 
and  physical  conditions  of  Africa  present  gigantic 
obstructions  to  the  progress  of  the  gospel ;  and 
were  it  not  for  the  vast  importance  connected 
with  its  evangelization,  and  especially  for  the 
positive  command  of  Christ  to  go  there  and 
preach,  we  should  abandon  the  work  in  despair. 
We  trust  the  Church  has  counted  the  cost  and 
will  stand  by  the  board  in  every  emergency." 

A  year  later,  the  board  authorized  Doctor 
Flickinger  to  investigate  Liberia  Avith  a  view  to 
locating  our  African  mission  there.  But  after 
Doctor  Flickinger's  visit  to  Liberia,  he  returned 
to  Sierra  Leone  fully  persuaded  that,  though  dark 
as  was  the  outlook,  it  was  the  place  to  begin  our 
work. 

After  a  number  of  interviews  with  Chief  Caul- 
ker at  Shenge,  the  latter  offered  a  beautiful  site 
for  the  mission,  consisting  of  one  hundred  acres 
of  land  on  a  cape  extending  out  into  the  sea. 


Rev.  W.  J.   Shuey  Rev.    D.    K.   Flickinger 


Dr.    D.    C     Kumler  Mrs.    A.    L.   Billheimer 


Our    First   Foreign    Missionaries 


Mrs.  Lucy  Caulker  Curtis 

One  of  the  two  first  converts 


The  First  Chapel  and  Missionary  Residence 
Erected  Abroad 


BEGINNINGS  AND  GROWTH  ABkOAD       39 

A  small,  portable,  frame  chapel,  which  had  been 
made  in  New  York,  was  sent  to  Africa  this  same 
year  and  erected  at  Shenge  by  Rev.  J.  K.  Bill- 
heimer  and  Dr.  \\'.  B.  Witt,  the  missionaries  on 
the  field  at  that  time.  This  chapel  was  twenty- 
four  by  thirty  feet  and  was  divided  into  three 
rooms.  It  served  as  a  home  for  the  missionaries, 
a  church,  and  a  school  building. 

The  First  Fruits.  After  three  years'  labor,  the 
missionaries  were  encouraged  by  the  conversion 
of  Thomas  Tucker,  about  twenty  years  of  age, 
and  Lucy  Caulker,  a  girl  of  fourteen,  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  chief.  The  latter,  because  of  her  stand 
for  Christ,  suffered  great  persecution.  Her  con- 
sistent Christian  life  in  the  home  bore  fruit  some 
years  later  in  the  conversion  of  her  father.  She 
was  a  faithful  and  efficient  worker  in  the  church 
at  Shenge  until  her  death,  in  1910. 

When  Rev.  Mr.  Billheimer  returned  to  Africa 
for  the  third  term,  in  1862,  he  was  accompanied 
by  Mrs.  Billheimer,  who  went  out  as  the  first 
woman  missionary  from  our  Church. 

Mrs.  Billheimer,  who  is  still  with  us,  declares : 
"These  two  converts  saved  the  mission  at  times 
from  utter  discouragement.  I  don't  think  any 
one  knows  which  of  the  two  was  converted  first. 
Thomas  Tucker  was  faithful  to  God  and  devoted 
to  Mr.  Billheimer.  The  missionary  could  not 
have  endured  the  hard  climate,  the  sickness,  and 
privations  without  the  loving  service  of  Thomas. 
He  was  always  with  him  on  his  missionary  jour- 
neys.    Long  afterwards,  we  learned  that  faithful 


40  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

Tom  slept  every  night  at  the  door  of  the  hut  in 
which  the  missionary  was  sleeping.  No  one  could 
pass  Tom  to  harm  his  friend." 

The  first  decade  closed  with  but  two  converts. 

A  Period  of  Test     1865-1875 

There  was  no  missionary  on  the  field  from 
April,  1864,  until  December,  1866,  when  Rev.  and 
Mrs.  O.  Hadley  arrived  at  Shenge.  They  found 
things  in  a  very  discouraging  condition.  During 
the  two  years  and  a  half  when  the  work  was  left 
without  a  missionary,  heathenism  had  almost 
overpowered  the  two  converts  and  the  small 
beginning  which  had  been  made.  But  Mr.  Had- 
ley hopefully  wrote :  "Because  Satan  has  his  seat 
here,  shall  we  faint  and  give  up  the  conflict  and 
go  home  like  cowards,  leaving  all  the  vast  field 
to  him?  Who  shall  stop  to  count  numbers  or 
money  against  the  souls  of  the  heathen?" 

For  two  years  and  a  half  the  Hadleys  served 
faithfully  in  Africa,  which  was  the  longest  term 
of  service  any  missionary  had  spent  in  that  field 
during  the  first  two  decades.  He  literally  wore 
out  his  life  in  the  work.  He  was  brought  home 
sick,  and  died  one  week  after  their  arrival  at  their 
home  near  Lafayette,  Indiana,  April  28,  1869. 

Africa  Again  Without  a  Missionary.  The  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1869  took  up  the  matter  and 
strongly  urged  that  the  mission  in  Africa  be  aban- 
doned ;  but  the  faith-daring  secretary.  Doctor 
Flickinger,  pleaded  for  its  continuance,  declaring 
that  "a  glorious  harvest  of  souls  shall  yet  be  gath- 


BEGIXXINGS  AXD  GROWTH  ABROAD       41 

ered  there  by  the  church  which  will  sustain  labor- 
ers in  that  field."  There  were  no  men  to  send  and 
no  money  with  wliich  to  send  them,  but  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  voted  to  keep  the  way  open  and 
authorized  that  men  and  money  be  sent  as  early 
as  they  could  be  secured. 

The  work  in  the  meanwhile  was  left  in  the 
hands  of  a  native  pastor,  Mr.  Williams,  who  had 
been  secured  from  a  mission  school  in  Freetown, 
and  who  had  been  given  supervision  of  the  work 
during  the  former  absence  of  missionaries  on  the 
field.  A  year  later  he  died,  and  the  infant  mission 
striving  to  get  a  start  was  left  destitute. 

This  served  as  a  challenge  to  the  board,  and 
a  year  later.  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Joseph  Gomer,  colored 
missionaries  from  America,  were  sent  to  the  field. 
Mr.  Gomer  labored  in  Africa  for  twenty  years. 
A  beautiful  incident  illustrating  the  influence  of 
his  life,  is  told  by  a  missionary  who  followed  him 
at  Shenge.  The  missionary  was  one  Sabbath 
morning  teaching  a  class  of  children.'  Instead  of 
using  the  name  of  Christ,  he  told  them  he  would 
tell  them  of  a  man  and  then  they  were  to  guess 
his  name.  After  describing  Christ  as  best  he 
could,  telling  them  how  he  left  his  home  and  came 
to  live  among  us,  how  he  loved  everybody,  how 
he  never  did  anything  that  was  wrong,  how  he 
always  went  about  doing  good,  etc.,  the  children 
unanimously  exclaimed,  "It  was  Mr.  Gomer !" 

First  Churches  Organized.  Prospects  bright- 
ened as  more  missionaries  were  added  to  the 
force.    A  call  was  issued  in  America  through  the 


42  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

Church  papers  for  special  gifts  amounting  to 
three  thousand  dollars  for  the  erection  of  the  first 
chapel.  This  was  located  at  Shenge,  anjd  later 
another  native  chapel  was  built  at  Bompetook, 
fourteen  miles  south  of  Shenge,  to  which  place 
the  missionaries  had  been  itinerating.  At  these 
points  were  organized  the  first  congregations 
abroad  with  a  total  membership  of  twenty-four. 
Among  the  converts  was  Chief  Caulker,  the 
father  of  Lucy  Caulker,  one  of  the  first  converts, 
and  the  man  who  had  given  one  hundred  acres 
for  the  mission  station. 

The  conditions  for  membership  laid  down  for 
the  very  first  organization,  were :  "A  man  had  to 
give  up  all  but  one  wife,  free  any  slaves  in  his 
possession,  surrender  membership  in  the  Porro 
Society,  be  no  user  or  seller  of  liquor.  No  woman 
was  admitted  who  was  the  wife  of  a  man  possess- 
ing other  wives."  The  significance  of  these  con- 
ditions and  what  they  meant  in  the  lives  of  the 
converts,  will  be  better  appreciated  after  seeing 
the  social  and  religious  conditions  in  which  the 
church  abroad  is  born  and  developed,  as  discussed 
in  the  following  chapter. 

At  the  close  of  the  second  decade,  we  had  two 
organized  churches  with  twenty-four  members, 
one  mission  house,  and  two  chapels. 

Organizing  and  Extending  the  Work 
1875-1885 
The  most  important  event  of  the  third  decade 
was  the  opening  of  work  by  the  Woman's  Mis- 


B.EGIXXIXGS  AND  GROWTH  ABROAD       43 

sionary  Association,  in  1876,  at  Rotifunk,  about 
fifty-five  miles  northeast  of  Shenge.  Rotifunk  at 
this  time  was  a  stronghold  for  slave  traders,  but 
in  a  few  years  the  mission  had  secured  the  favor 
of  the  chief,  who  gave  his  influence  toward  enforc- 
ing the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  in  his  town. 
There  was  a  hearty  response  among  the  people. 

An  interesting  freewill  offering  was  brought  at 
the  dedication  of  the  chapel  at  Rotifunk.  It  con- 
sisted of  sixty  acres  of  land,  five  binkes  of  rice, 
one  cow,  one  country  cloth,  and  $27.14  in  cash. 

Two  weeks  after  the  dedication  of  this  chapel, 
war  broke  out  and  continued  for  two  years, 
greatly  interfering  with  the  work. 

New  Stations  Opened  and  Mission  District 
Formed.  New  stations  were  opened  during  this 
decade  and  additional  day  schools  and  Sunday 
schools  were  organized.  Chiefs  became  interested 
and  donated  land  for  these  stations  averaging  one 
hundred  acres  or  more  at  Rotifunk,  Palli,  Rem- 
bee,  Mambo,  Mofus,  Tongkoloh,  and  Bompetook. 
Industrial  training  was  also  introduced.  On 
March  20,  1880,  at  a  meeting  at  Shenge,  the  field 
was  organized  into  a  ''Mission  District"  with  the 
following  charter  members  :  Revs.  J.  Gomer,  D.  F. 
Wilberforce,  J.  C.  Sawyer,  J.  P.  Hero,  J.  W.  Pratt, 
and  B.  W.  Johnson.  This  organization  put  hope 
into  the  hearts  of  the  missionaries  and  the  Church 
at  home,  for  it  gave  promise  of  permanency. 

In  1883,  the  Mendi  Mission  of  the  American 
Missionary  Association  (Congregational),  located 
contiguous  to  our  field  in  Africa,  was  transferred 


44  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

to  us  under  an  agreement  whereby  that  associa- 
tion paid  five  thousand  dollars  annually  for  six 
consecutive  years  for  the  support  of  this  work. 
The  Freedmen's  Missionary  Aid  Society  of  Lon- 
don also  donated  $6,000  for  the  support  of  mission 
work  under  our  board  in  West  Africa. 

A  monthly  periodical,  "The  Early  Dawn,"  was 
published  for  a  number  of  years  and  became  the 
pioneer  Christian  publication  in  our  foreign  fields. 

At  the  close  of  the  third  decade,  there  were 
twelve  missionaries  on  the  field,  twenty-four 
native  workers,  and  nine  organized  churches  with 
a  membership  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty. 

Training  Schools  and  Nezv  Missions 
1885-1895 

An  important  event  in  the  fourth  decade  was 
the  founding  of  the  Rufus  Clark  and  Wife  Train- 
ing School  at  Shenge.  This  institution  was  made 
possible  by  a  gift  of  five  thousand  dollars  from 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rufus  Clark,  of  Denver,  Colorado, 
in  1886.  The  stones  for  the  building  were  taken 
from  the  ruins  of  John  Newton's  famous  slave 
pen  on  Plantain  Island,  a  few  miles  off  the  mam- 
land  at  Shenge.  Thus  the  wrath  of  man  was 
made  to  praise  God.  The  graduates  of  the  Rufus 
Clark  and  Wife  Training  School  are  among  the 
ablest  Christian  workers  in  Sierra  Leone. 

Simultaneous  with  the  founding  of  this  school 
for  boys,  was  the  erection  of  the  Mary  Sowers 
Home  for  Girls  at  Rotifunk.  The  purpose  of  this 
school  was  to  give  the  mission  an  opportunity  to 


BEGINNINGS  AND  GROWTH  ABROAD       45 

do  a  permanent  work  for  girls  by  taking  them 
into  the  mission  home  and  keeping  them  there 
until  their  training  was  completed.  While  a  num- 
ber of  girls  were  attending  the  day  schools,  they 
were  constantly  being  taken  away  and  either  sold 
as  wives  or  slaves,  and  the  mission  was  powerless 
to  prevent  it. 

Revival  at  Rotifunk.  This  decade  records  a 
remarkable  answer  to  prayer  which  brought  great 
encouragement  to  the  little  church  abroad.  In 
1890,  special  meetings  for  prayer  for  a  revival  at 
Rotifunk  were  held  during  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  Woman's  Board,  simultaneous  with  meetings 
for  the  same  .purpose  among  the  missionaries  at 
Rotifunk.  A  most  wonderful  revival  w^as  the 
answer.  Among  the  many  converts  were  rum- 
sellers  who  closed  out  their  business ;  also  the 
old  chief,  eighty  years  of  age.  His  conversion 
reminded  the  missionaries  of  that  of  Saul  of  Tar- 
sus. Near  the  close  of  this  decade,  work  was 
opened  among  the  Mendi  and  Yonnie  tribes. 

China  Mission  Opened.  In  the  year  1889,  the 
Woman's  Missionary  Association  sent  Rev. 
George  Sickafoose,  accompanied  by  Miss  Austia 
■Patterson  (now  Mrs.  H.  K.  Shumaker)  and  Miss 
Lillian  Schafifner,  to  open  a  mission  in  China. 
They  decided  to  locate  on  the  Island  of  Honam. 
with  a  population  of  three  hundred  thousand,  a 
section  of  the  large  city  of  Canton.  After  com- 
pleting the  task  assigned  him,  Mr.  Sickafoose 
returned  to  the  United  States,  and  at  the  expira- 


46  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

tion  of  one  year  Miss  Schaffner  was  compelled  to 
return  on  account  of  illness. 

Aliss  Patterson  studied  the  language,  and,  with 
the  aid  of  a  Bible  woman,  she  was  soon  engaged 
in  house-to-house  visitation.  She  w^as  reinforced 
in  1891  and  1892  by  Dr.  Halverson  and  Dr.  Re- 
gina  M.  Bigler.  A  dispensary  was  opened  in  1893. 
These  were  years  of  great  hardship  and  suffering. 
The  missionary  and  his  purpose  were  poorly  un- 
derstood by  the  Chinese.  Bubonic  plague  raged 
in  Canton,  and  our  missionaries,  in  seeking  to 
relieve  suffering,  were  mobbed  and  nearly  killed. 
Stories  were  current  that  the  foreign  doctor  ad- 
ministered drugs  to  hasten  death  and  then  used 
the  eyes  of  the  dead  for  medicinal  purposes. 

Almost  simultaneous  with  the  opening  of 
evangelistic  work  in  our  China  mission,  was  the 
beginning  of  educational  and  medical  work — the 
two  most  powerful  allies  of  the  preached  Word. 

The  fourth  decade  closed  with  sixteen  mission- 
aries on  the  fields,  twenty-one  native  workers, 
and  ten  organized  churches  with  a  membership 
of  four  hundred. 

Lengthening  the  Cords 
1895-1905 

"Expansion"  was  the  watchword  of  the  fifth 
decade.  A  new  mission  was  opened  by  the  For- 
eign Missionary  Society  in  Japan  in  1895,  and 
one  in  Porto  Rico  in  1899.  The  Woman's  Mis- 
sionary Association  opened  work  in  the  Philip- 
pines in  1901. 


BEGIXXINGS  AND  GROWTH  ABROAD       47 

Mission  Opened  in  Japan.  The  rising  power  of 
Japan  as  a  result  of  her  victory  over  China,  chal- 
lenged our  Church  to  open  a  mission  in  that 
empire.  It  was  thought  worth  while  to  win  the 
aggressive  millions  of  Japan  to  Jesus  Christ  and 
to  turn  their  active  lives  into  channels  for  the 
uplift  of  the  world. 

Rev.  and  Mrs.  A.  T.  Howard  were  our  first 
missionaries  to  this  empire,  the  work  having  been 
opened  under  Japanese  leadership.  As  Japan  had 
already  good  provision  for  medical  and  day-school 
work,  chief  emphasis  was  given  to  evangelism 
and  the  raising  up  of  a  strong  native  ministry. 

In  the  year  1900,  our  mission  entered  into 
co-operation  with  the  Doshisha  University  of 
Kyoto  for  the  training  of  native  leaders.  Seven 
years  after  the  founding  of  our  Japan  mission,  we 
had  eight  splendid  Japanese  ministers  and  evan- 
gelists, and  the  Japan  Mission  Conference  was 
organized  in  1902.  With  this  staff  of  Japanese 
leaders,  preaching  places  were  opened  in  different 
sections  of  Tokyo,  Kyoto,  and  other  important 
centers.  At  the  close  of  the  decade,  there  were 
seven  organized  churches,  with  a  membership  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty-eight,  most  of  whom  be- 
longed to  the  student  class.  The  first  chapel  was 
built  in  a  very  congested  section  of  Tokyo.  Spe- 
cial classes  for  women  were  organized  and  home 
visitation  begun. 

Missionaries  Follow  the  Flag  to  Porto  Rico. 
Four  months  after  Porto  Rico  became  an  Amer- 
ican possession,  our  mission  opened  its  work  in 


48  OUR  CHURCH   ABROAD 

that  island.  Headquarters  were  located  at  Ponce, 
and  Rev.  and  Mrs.  N.  H.  Huffman  and  Rev.  and 
Mrs.  Philo  W.  Drury  became  our  pioneer  mis- 
sionaries. Within  a  year,  the  mission  was  con- 
ducting a  day  school,  night  classes,  Sunday  school, 
and  preaching  services  in  English  and  Spanish. 
The  first  church  was  organized  at  Ponce,  a  city 
of  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  with  ten  members, 
ten  months  after  the  landing  of  the  missionaries. 

The  building  of  our  first  church  at  Ponce  in 
1902,  and  the  organization  of  the  mission  into  a 
Mission  District  two  years  later  with  three  or- 
dained ministers  and  three  other  preachers,  gave 
a  decided  impetus  to  our  work  in  the  island. 

Confronted  with  the  great  need  for  Christian 
literature  in  the  language  of  the  people,  a  print- 
ing press  was  purchased  and  a  monthly  periodical 
was  issued,  which  rapidly  gained  wide  circulation 
and  became  the.  nucleus  of  the  now  splendid 
union  paper  of  the  island,  "The  Puerto  Rico 
Evangelico."  At  the  close  of  this  decade,  there 
were  seven  organized  native  churches  with  a 
membership  of  two  hundred  and  forty-four. 

Our  Missionaries  Enter  the  Philippines.  Early 
in  1901,  the  Woman's  Missionary  Association 
sent  Revs.  S.  B.  Kurtz  and  E.  S.  Eby  as  our 
pioneer  workers  to  the  Philippine  Islands ;  but 
the  permanent  location  of  the  mission  was  not 
fixed  until  1904,  when  Rev.  and  Mrs.  H.  W.  Wid- 
does  selected  San  Fernando,  Union,  as  head- 
quarters.     Work  was  begun  by  the  distribution 


BEGIXXIXGS  AXD  GROWTH  ABROAD       49 

of  tracts  and  the  organization  of  a  Bible  class  of 
twenty-five  members. 

Cava,  a  town  of  four  thousand  inhabitants,  four- 
teen miles  from  San  Fernando,  was  visited.  Many 
of  the  people  had  bought  Bibles  from  a  colpor- 
teur who  had  passed  through  the  town,  and  they 
were  eager  to  know  the  truth.  Here,  on  Easter 
Day,  1904,  our  first  church  in  the  Philippines  was 
organized,  with  eighteen  members.  From  this 
little  congregation  have  gone  out  five  young  men 
as  ministers  of  the  gospel.  Much  persecution  was 
suffered  by  these  first  Protestant  Christians,  but 
most  of  them  remained  faithful.  Before  the  close 
of  the  decade,  four  churches  were  organized,  with 
a  membership  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-two. 
Bible  institutes  were  held  for  the  inspiration  and 
training  of  workers,  and  a  weekly  paper,  "The 
Naimbag-a-Damag"  published  in  Ilocano,  was 
started. 

Massacre  and  Reconstruction  in  Africa.  The 
fifth  decade  in  Africa  was  marked  by  a  general 
uprising-  over  Sierra  Leone,  during  which  five  of 
our  missionaries  at  Rotifunk  were  massacred,  in 
May,  1898:  Rev.  and  Mrs.  I.  N.  Cain,  Dr.  Mari- 
etta Hatfield,  Dr.  Mary  C.  Archer,  and  Miss  Ella 
M.  Schenck.  Rev.  and  Mrs.  L.  A.  McGrew,  who 
were  stationed  at  Taiama,  were  held  as  prisoners 
for  some  time,  and  were  then  taken  to  a  sacrificial 
rock  in  the  Taia  River  and  were  beheaded.  A 
beautiful  incident  is  told  of  Mrs.  McGrew :  After 
the  mob  had  taken  her  husband's  life,  she  asked 
permission  to  pray,  and,  kneeling  down  on  the 


50  OUR  CHURCH   ABROAD 

blood-stained  rock,  she  prayed  for  the  forgiveness 
of  that  angry  mob,  after  which  she  bravely  sur- 
rendered her  life. 

During  this  insurrection,  all  our  mission  sta- 
tions were  destroyed,  save  Bonthe,  and  the  Chris- 
tians scattered  and  many  were  put  to  death. 

Immediately  following  these  dark  days,  a  num- 
ber of  the  native  pastors,  without  direction  or 
compensation  from  the  board,  took  up  itinerating 
work  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  and  strength- 
ening the  hearts  of  the  scattered  flock. 

Four  months  after  the  massacre,  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
J.  R.  King  heroically  set  their  faces  toward  Africa 
'for  their  second  term,  to  begin  the  work  of  re- 
construction. No  record  of  church  members  could 
be  found.  After  three  months'  effort,  sixteen  na- 
tive pastors  and  teachers  were  brought  together. 
Four  day  schools  and  twelve  preaching  places 
were  reopened. 

Union  headquarters  were  located  in  Freetown 
with  Doctor  King  as  superintendent,  for  the  work 
of  both  the  General  and  Woman's  boards.  New 
missionaries  were  sent  to  the  field,  and  churches 
were  organized  and  buildings  reconstructed.  Al- 
bert Academy,  a  training  school  for  young  men, 
was  opened  in  Freetown,  in  1904.  Important  new 
stations  were  opened.  At  Moyamba,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  district  government,  a  girls'  board- 
ing school  was  opened,  and  boarding  schools 
for  boys  at  Rotifunk  and  at  Shenge.  Another 
important   move   in   the   reconstruction   of   work, 


BEGINNINGS  AND  GROWTH  ABROAD       51 

was  the  organization  of  a  church  in  Freetown,  the 
capital  city  of  Sierra  Leone. 

The  awakened  interest  among  the  African 
Christians,  and  their  willingness  to  help  to  their 
utmost  ability  in  a  financial  way,  were  manifested 
in  the  erection  of  a  splendid  stone  church  at  Roti- 
funk  as  a  memorial  to  our  seven  martyrs ;  also  the 
large  brick  church  at  Bonthe.  These  build- 
ings were  erected  almost  exclusively  with  funds 
contributed  by  native  Christians. 

The  medical  department,  Avhich  had  barely 
made  a  beginning  before  the  uprising,  was  reor- 
ganized at  Rotifunk. 

Days  of  Test  in  China.  The  work  in  China,  as 
in  Africa,  passed  through  a  season  of  sore  test 
and  trial  due  to  the  Boxer  uprising.  The  mission- 
aries were  compelled  to  leave  their  stations ; 
though  none  of  them  lost  their  lives,  the  prog- 
ress of  the  work  was  much  retarded. 

During  this  decade,  our  first  chapel  and  dispen- 
sary were  built  in  Canton,  near  the  spot  where 
our  iTiissionaries  were  mobbed  a  few  years  be- 
fore. A  day  school  for  boys  was  opened,  and  a 
school  for  girls,  which  has  since  developed  into 
Miller  Seminary. 

The  work  was  extended  to  surrounding  towns 
and  cities  by  occasional  itinerating  trips.  Col- 
porteurs accomplished  splendid  results  through 
the  sale  and  distribution  of  Bibles  and  Christian 
literature  throughout  the  country. 

Siu  Lam,  at  present  one  of  our  strong  stations, 
was  opened  during  this  decade.     When  Rev.  Mr. 


52  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

Ward  first  visited  that  city,  he  was  greeted  with  a 
shower  of  bricks  and  broken  crockery  and  the 
cries  of  "Foreign  devil !"  and  was  driven  out. 
The  reader  will  be  interested  in  noting  the  vic- 
tories achieved  recently  in  Siu  Lam,  as  given  in 
a  succeeding  chapter. 

At  the  close  of  the  decade,  thirty-one  mission- 
aries were  at  work  in  our  five  fields,  and  eighty- 
one  native  workers.  There  were  thirty-eight  or- 
ganized churches  with  a  membership  of  one  thou- 
sand four  hundred  and  twenty-nine ;  two  dispen- 
saries ;  thirty-eight  Sunday  schools ;  six  Christian 
Endeavor  societies ;  and  fourteen  day  and  board- 
ing schools. 

Remarkable  Expansion 
1905-1915 

A  strong  educational  campaign  was  carried 
forward  among  the  home  churches  during  this 
period.  Systematic  study  of  missions  was  taken 
up  by  many  churches,  and  forty-five  thousand 
copies  of  foreign  mission  books  were  read  and 
studied  during  the  ten  years. 

Great  Growth  Abroad.  As  a  result  of  this  thor- 
ough educational  propaganda,  the  gifts  from  all 
sources  to  foreign  missions  increased  during  the 
first  half  of  the  decade  from  forty-eight  thousand 
to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  annually,  thus 
making  possible  an  inspiring  growth  in  the  work 
abroad.  New  missionaries  were  added  to  the 
staff,  and  a  number  of  our  largest  buildings 
abroad  were  erected  at  this  time.     Through  the 


BEGINNINGS  AND  GROWTH  ABROAD       53 


splendid  gift,  from  yir.  Ralph  Leiniger,  of  seven 
thousand  dollars,  which  was  supplemented  by 
other  gifts,  a  substantial  building  was  supplied 
for  Albert  Academy,  Freetown.  The  Hatfield- 
Archer  dispensary,  at  Rotifunk,  was  built  largely 
with  bricks  made  by  the  boys  in  the  industrial 
school  at  that  place. 

The  Girls'  Boarding  School  at  Moyamba,  West 
Africa,  the  Foundling  Home  in  Canton,  China, 
and  excellent  mission  headquarters  in  Japan, 
Africa,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Philippines,  were 
erected  during  this  period. 

Chart  Showing  the  Growth  in  Membership  on  Our  Mission  Fields 

Decades 
1855 
1865 
1875 
1885 
1895 
1905 
1915 


1000    2000    3000    4000    5000    6000  Members 

In  recent  years  the  Sunday  schools  and  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  societies  became  strong  recruiting 
and  training  agencies ;  day  schools  were  multi- 
plied, and  organized  native  churches  were  planted 
in  most  of  the  important  centers  abroad.  All 
these  are  growing  rapidly  and  are  passing 
through  the  formative,  critical  period  of  their 
career. 


0 

2 

1         24 

■    250 

■  4on 

s 

^1429 

^^^ 

^^^ 

^ 

^ 



^■6432 

54  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

This  growth  brought  new  requirements  for  the 
missionaries  and  native  leaders.  A  Christian  lit- 
erature in  the  vernacular  was  created,  and  strong^ 
emphasis  given  to  strengthening  the  spiritual  life 
of  the  church  membership  and  to  inculcate  prin- 
ciples of  evangelism  and  self-support. 

Intensive  Training  Work.  To  reach  the  ulti- 
mate goal  for  foreign  missions — namely,  to  estab- 
lish a  strong  native  church — well  qualified  native 
leaders  are  of  supreme  importance.  To  supply 
such  leaders  for  the  rapidly  growing  churches 
abroad,  our  missions  planned  for  a  number  of 
training  institutions.  The  Young  Women's  Bible 
Training  School  was  established  at  San  Fernando, 
Philippine  Islands,  and  the  Bqys^Grammar  School 
in  Canton,  China;  the  Miller  Seminary  for  girls 
was  transferred  from  Canton  to  Siu  Lam,  China; 
and  the  Albert  Academy  was  greatly  strength- 
ened as  a  training  agency.  For  the  sake  of  econ- 
omy and  efficiency,  in  addition  to  co-operating 
with  the  Doshisha  University  in  Japan,  our  mis- 
sions united  with  other  communions  in  China, 
Porto  Rico,  and  the  Philippine  Islands  in  estab- 
lishing schools  for  the  training  of  native  pastors. 

Philanthropic  work  was  undertaken  in  China. 
The  Foundling  Home  was  established  in  Canton 
for  the  saving  of  baby  girls,  tens  of  thousands  of 
whose  lives  are  recklessly  destroyed  each  year. 

In  response  to  repeated  and  urgent  calls  from 
the  Kono  country.  West  Africa,  for  a  missionary, 
the  mission  opened  work  among  the  sixty  thou- 
sand of  this  needy  tribe  in  1910.    During  the  same 


r 


V 


A    Rescued    Castaway,    in    the    Foundling    Home,    China 


BEGIXXIXGS  AND  GROWTH  ABROAD       57 

period,  our  missionaries  in  the  Philippines  began 
work  among  the  primitive,  untouched  tribes  of 
the  Ig-orrotes. 

At  the  close  of  the  sixth  decade,  we  had  sixty- 
four  missionaries  on  the  field  ;  one  hundred  and 
seventy-four  native  workers ;  one  hundred  and 
two  organized  churches,  with  a  membership  ot 
six  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty-two ;  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  Sunday  schools,  and  forty- 
three  day  and  boarding  schools.  The  medical 
work  had  grown  until  over  thirty  thousand  pa- 
tients are  treated  annually.  The  following  sta- 
tistical table  will  give  in  detail  the  growth  of  six 
decades : 

Decades  1865  1875  1885  1895  1905  1915     . 

Missionaries    2  «  12  in  31  64' 

Ordained    Native    Workers 0  0  0  0  4  25 

Total   NaUve   Worlvers 0  0  24  21  81  174 

Organized    Churches    0  2  9  10  38  102 

Conimimicant    Members     2  24  250  400  1,429  6.432 

Sunday    Schools    0  0  13  10  38  llfi 

Simday- school    Enrollment    ...  0  0  503  6!J6  2.243  7,199 

Young  People's  Societies    0  0  0  1  G  34 

Members   in   Young   People's 

Societies     0  0  0  35  239  765 

Day  and  Boarding  Schools  ...  0  0  .  12  9  14  43 
Pupils   in  Day  and  Boarding 

Schools     0  0  426  594  901  1,669 

Dispensaries    0  0  0  2  2  8 

Cases   Treated    ...  ...  ...  *165,741 

Value  of  Mission  Property $25,000     $30,000  $76,927  $259,678 

*For    six   years. 

Perfecting  Admijiistratkc   Work 
Much  attention  was  given  during  this  period  to 
the  study  of  the  principles  of  missionary  admin- 
istration with  a  view  to  greater  efiiciency. 

The  Woman's  Missionary  Association,  at  the 
General  Conference  of  1909,  sought  closer  co-op- 
eration with  both  the  Home  and  Foreign  mission- 


58  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

ary  societies.  By  the  action  of  this  Conference, 
representatives  from  the  Woman's  board  became 
members  of  the  Board  of  Directors  and  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  and  thus  the  entire  work  in  our  five  for- 
eign fields  was  united  under  one  administrative 
body. 

This  has  brought  unity  to  the  work  abroad,  and 
it  gives  to  the  missionaries  and  native  church  the 
united  intercession  and  support  of  the  entire 
Church  in  America.  This  plan  of  co-operation  is 
generally  considered  the  ideal  relation  of  General 
and  Woman's  boards,  toward  which  other  denom- 
inations are  working. 

Three  Adiniuistrative  Bodies 
In  carrying  forward  this  world-wide  enterprise, 
three  administrative  bodies  are  at  work :  First, 
the  Foreign  Mission  Board  in  the  United  States; 
second,  the  Mission  Council  in  each  foreign  field, 
which  is  composed  of  all  the  foreign  missionaries  ; 
and  third,  the  Foreign  Mission  Conference  in 
each  field,  composed  of  the  missionaries,  native 
workers,  and  lay  delegates.  Each  of  these  has  its 
distinct  function  : 

The  Foreign  Mission  Board  has  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  selection  and  sending  forth  of  the 
missionaries,  and  for  the  formation  of  such  pol- 
icies as  will  meet  the  ever-changing  conditions 
and  needs  of  the  growing  native  churches  and 
institutions  abroad.  The  Foreign  board  is  also 
responsible  for  the  education  and  enlistment  of 


BEGINNINGS  AND  GROWTH  ABROAD       59 

the  home  churches  in  the  support  of  foreign  mis- 
sions. 

The  Mission  Council  in  each  field  is  charged 
with  the  responsibility  for  all  institutional  work, 
such  as  higher  educational,  medical,  industrial, 
and  philanthropic  enterprises,  and  the  general 
oversight  of  the  entire  field.  Each  missionary  is 
expected  to  study  the  problems  of  the  whole  mis- 
sion and  catch  the  vision  and  inspiration  of  the 
entire  work,  while  giving  special  attention  to  the 
specific  task  to  which  he  has  been  assigned.  This 
enables  the  Mission  Council  in  its  annual  sessions 
to  reach  the  wisest  possible  decisions  for  the 
promotion  of  the  work  as  a  whole.  The  Foreign 
Mission  Board  relies  more  and  more  on  the  in- 
sight and  judgment  of  the  missionaries  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  findings  of  the  Alission  Council, 
which  council  forms  the  connecting  link  between 
the  home  board  and  the  native  church  on  the  field. 

The  Foreign  Mission  Conference  in  each  field  is 
now  a  well-organized  body  which  receives  and 
passes  on  reports  of  workers,  and  creates  com- 
mittees to  study  and  report  on  various  important 
phases  of  the  work  ;  it  disciplines  its  own  mem- 
bers, -stations  the  pastors  to  their  fields  of  labor, 
and  plans  largely  for  its  own  work  in  evangelism, 
self-support,   and   self-extension. 

The  native  church  abroad  is  rising  to  the  place 
of  supreme  importance.  It  is  the  permanent  or- 
ganization of  the  future,  and  both  the  Foreign 
Mission  Board  and  the  Mission  Council  exist 
solely  for  its  development. 


Ill 

CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  THE 
NATIVE  CHURCH 

To  establish  a  strong  native  church  in  each  non- 
Christian  land,  is  the  goal  of  foreign  missions. 
The  glory  of  our  work  abroad  is  not  in  the  build- 
ings erected  nor  in  the  number  of  foreign  mission- 
aries on  the  field,  but  in  the  living,  growing, 
native  churches  at  work  to  win  their  fellow  coun- 
tryrnen  to  Christ  and  to  change  their  environment 
to  conform  to  Christian  ideals. 

In  this  chapter,  we  shall  seek  to  enter  into 
fellowship  with  the  native  pastors,  the  native 
churches,  and  the  missionaries,  in  the  study  of 
the  problems  and  conditions  with  which  they  are 
grappling.  AVe  will  not  be  unreasonable  in  our 
judgment  of  conditions  which  now  prevail  in 
non-Christian  lands,  when  we  remember  that  our 
own  ancestors  were  "a  barbarous,  savage  people." 

"Most  of  the  non-Christian  nations  are  con- 
siderably higher  in  the  scale  of  civilization  and 
achievement  than  Europe  was  in  the  days  of  St. 
Paul.  Augustine  of  Canterbury  found  no  such 
orderly  society  in  England  as  Morrison  found  in 
China.  Boniface  labored  in  Germany  among  more 
lawless  tribes  than  Carey  met  in  India."  ^ 


'From    "Rising    Churches    in    Non-Christian    Lands,"    page    3. 


COXDITIOXS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      61 

Christianity  can  do  as  much  for  other  races  as 
it  has  already  done  for  ours.  The  great  trans- 
formation that  came  to  England  and  Germany 
thirteen  centuries  ago,  when  Christian  mission- 
aries first  entered  these  countries,  is  now  taking- 
place  in  many  non-Christian  lands. 

The  adverse  conditions  and  appalling  needs 
abroad  cannot  be  fully  appreciated  until  one  lives 
and  works  in  the  midst  of  them. 

China 

No  other  country  in  the  world  presents  greater 
opportunities  for  Christian  work,  coupled  with 
more  complex  problems,  than  does  China. 

In  studying  conditions  in  that  empire,  one 
should  keep  clearly  in  mind  the  vast  multitude 
to  be  reached.  Every  fourth  person  born  on  earth 
looks  into  the  face  of  a  Chinese  mother.  China 
has  a  population  four  times  as  great  as  the  United 
States.  A\^hen  her  multitudes  have  been  led  to 
Christ,  one-half  of  the  pagan  world  will  have  been 
conquered  by  Christianity. 

Ancestral  Worship.  The  very  core  of  the  reli- 
gious and  social  life  of  the  Chinese,  whether  they 
be  Confucianists,  Buddhists,  or  Taoists,  is  the 
worship  of  ancestors.  It  is  so  thoroughly  a  part 
of  the  warp  and  woof  of  their  life  that  it  forms 
one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  spread  of 
Christianity.  .V  man  in  China  cannot  commit  any 
greater  ofifense  against  his  family,  against  society, 
and  against  the  government,  than  to  renounce  the 
worship  of  his  ancestors.    The  most  lenient  pun- 


62  OUR  CHURCH   ABROAD 

ishment  that  can  be  meted  out  to  him  is  to  make 
him  an  outcast  from  his  family.  Many  of  our 
converts  in  China  have  suffered  such  ostracism. 
It  is  pitiable  to  see  the  millions  upon  millions  in 
China  calling  upon  the  spirits  of  their  dead  an- 
cestors as  their  only  source  of  help  ! 

Prejudice  and  Superstition.  A  conservative, 
depressing  atmosphere  prevails  everywhere  in 
China  and  an  inborn  prejudice  against  any  change 
in  established  ways.  Multitudes  live  in  constant 
terror  of  evil  spirits.  They  are  afraid  to  break 
w^ith  any  custom  of  the  past,  or  to  delve  into  the 
earth  to  secure  its  rich  deposits  of  coal  and  iron 
lest  they  thereby  disturb  the  old  dragon  and  some 
calamity  befall  them. 

A  superstition  prevails  that  no  one  should  be 
allowed  to  die  in  a  house  not  his  own,  for  there- 
after the  property  could  not  be  rented.  Hence, 
when  nearing  death,  the  sick  are  carried  to  the 
sti^eets  or  to  some  out-of-the-way  place  in  their 
last  agony.  Dead  bodies  are  kept  for  months  and 
even  years  waiting  for  a  geomancer  to  discover  a 
lucky  day  and  a  lucky  place  for  the  interment. 
Hardly  can  the  purchase  of  property,  marriage, 
or  any  important  event  in  life,  be  entered  into 
without  first  consulting  a  geomancer. 

Adverse  Physical  Conditions.  The  struggle  for 
existence  in  China  is  most  intense.  The  average 
wage  for  the  laboring  man  is  about  nine  cents  a 
day.  Poverty,  awful  poverty  such  as  we  can 
scarcely  imagine,  is  here !  Millions  have  not  one 
meal  ahead  ;  hence,  famine  always  follows  floods. 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      63 

Sanitation  is  unknown.  There  is  disease  of 
every  description.  Leprosy  is  common  and  not 
segregated.  There  is  no  quarantine  for  conta- 
gious diseases.  Plague  is  an  annual  visitor  in 
South  China.  Doctor  Oldt  writes  :  "In  the  height 
of  the  plague  season,  it  is  sometimes  almost  im- 
possible to  work  in  the  dispensary  because  of  the 
continual  noise  of  passing  funerals."  It  is  said 
that  three-fourths  of  the  babies  die  in  infancy 
because  mothers  do  not  know  how  to  properly 
care  for  them. 

An  experienced  worker  writes  :  "As  we  pass 
along  the  dismal,  six-foot-wide  street,  with  houses 
built  tightly  together,  and  crowded  by  the  throng- 
ing multitudes  of  tradesmen  and  bare-backed 
coolies  with  the  perspiration  streaming  down 
their  bodies,  we  notice  all  classes  of  people.  There 
are  dirty,  grimy  children  with  their  heads  a  mass 
of  boils  and  their  legs  swollen  with  gangrene  or 
running  ulcers ;  there  is  a  man  just  recovered 
from  the  smallpox  with  the  scabs  still  peeling 
from  his  face ;  here  is  another  with  his  hands 
eaten  off  by  leprosy,  passing  so  close  that  he  al- 
most touches  us.  Wt  shrink  and  wish  we  could 
postpone  the  trip  until  another  day ;  but  there  is 
no  use — we  are  liable  to  see  the  same  thing  any 
day." 

Ignorance  a  Great  Problem.  One  of  the  out- 
standing difficulties  before  the  advancing  native 
church  in  China,  is  the  utter  lack  of  school  facil- 
ities. China  has  discarded  her  old  system  of  edu- 
cation, which  consisted  in  a  course  of  examina- 


64  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

tions  in  her  ancient  classics  and  caused  every 
student  to  face  the  past  with  his  back  to  the  fu- 
ture. In  making  this  colossal  change,  the  millions 
in  China  constitute  the  most  striking  educational 
need  found  anywhere.  Only  two  per  cent,  of  the 
children  of  school  age  can  be  accommodated  in 
her  present  schools.  Think  of  it,  there  are  sixty- 
five  million  children  in  China  without  school  fa- 
cilities ! 

The  mission  schools  have  led  China  to  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  it  is  important  to  educate  girls 
as  well  as  boys.  There  are  still  three  times  as 
many  girls  enrolled  in  the  mission  schools  as  are 
found  in  schools  controlled  by  the  state. 

China  cannot  have  colleges  which  give  Western 
education  until  she  has  high  schools.  The  gram- 
mar and  primary  grades  must  come  before  the 
high  schools  ;  hence,  the  modern  teachers  of  China 
must  begin  at  the  beginning.  There  is  an  unprec- 
edented call  for  capable  teachers.  Think  of  the 
task  of  developing  an  adecjuate  school  system  out 
of  the  chaotic  conditions  existing  among  the  hun- 
dreds of  millions  in  China !  Missionaries  have 
been  asked  to  take  charge  of  the  educational  mat- 
ters of  entire  provinces.  The  opportunity  of  ages 
is  right  now  upon  the  Christian  church  to  educate 
Christian  teachers  and  Christian  pastors  for  new 
China. 

When  it  is  known  that  ninety-nine  per  cent,  of 
the  converts  in  China  are  illiterate,  the  stupendous 
educational  problem  that  confronts  our  mission- 
ary workers  in  that  field  will  be  recognized.   How 


IR 


le    Christl 


Millions   Wait    the    Light    Whose    Dawning   Maketh 
All  Things  New" 


Japanese  Before  the  Palace  Worshiping  the   Emperor  During   His  Illness 


A    Group  of   United    Brethren    Pastors   and   Christians,   Japan 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      67 

supremely  important,  therefore,  is  the  work  of 
our  day  schools,  the  Boys'  Grammar  School,  and 
the  Miller  Seminary! 

Strength  and  Courage.  The  more  one  studies 
the  Chinese  people,  the  more  he  appreciates  their 
many  noble  qualities.  They  have  a  profound  re- 
spect for  education  and  learning.  Their  literature 
is  older  than  that  of  any  other  nation.  Their 
young  men  are  able  to  meet  the  challenge  ot 
scholarship  from  any  student  class  of  the  world. 
They  have  energy,  industry,  and  an  economy 
scarcely  excelled  anywhere.  They  have  marvel- 
ous endurance,  and  are  willing  to  suffer  any  per- 
secution for  the  sake  of  the  gospel  when  they 
have  once  accepted  it. 

Christianity  Changing  China.  It  took  one  hun- 
dred years  for  Christian  missions  to  get  a  firm 
grip  on  China.  After  Robert  Morrison,  the  pio- 
neer missionary,  had  worked  twenty-seven  years, 
there  were  but  three  converts.  At  the  end  of 
fifty-three  years,  in  I860,  there  were  only  nine 
hundred  and  sixty  native  Christians ;  but  at  the 
present  time,  there  are  over  three  hundred  thou- 
sand. The  officials,  students,  and  the  literati  are 
now  turning  in  large  numbers  to  Christianity. 
During  the  last  twelve  months,  twenty  times  as 
many  persons  were  converted  to  Christ  in  our 
own  mission  in  China  as  were  won  by  all  the 
Christian  workers  during  the  first  thirty-five 
years  of  Christian  effort. 


68  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

Japan 

The  Christian  workers  in  Japan  are  achieving 
excellent  results  in  spite  of  great  obstacles. 

No  Conception  of  God.  The  great  difficulty  met 
with  in  Japan  is  the  fact  that  nine  hundred  and 
ninety  out  of  every  one  thousand  have  no  con- 
ception of  God.  The  doctrine  of  the  personality 
of  God  as  Creator,  is  hard  to  grasp  by  the  Japan- 
ese, who  live  in  a  pantheistic  atmosphere.  The 
painful  processes  through  which  a  soul  passes  in 
becoming  a  Christian,  are  strikingly  illustrated 
by  the  experience  of  Mr.  Ishiguro.  He  writes : 
"Modern  education  led  me  to  give  up  the  worship 
of  idols.  Then  I  did  not  have  any  religion,  and 
my  soul  at  that  time  was  in  great  trouble  and  not 
at  all  satisfied.  Then  I  went  to  higher  Buddhism ; 
but  the  Buddhists  do  not  believe  in  the  future. 
They  say  there  is  no  existence  in  the  hereafter ; 
there  is  no  hope.  When"  almost  ready  to  despair 
of  life  itself,  a  missionary  gave  me  the  Bible  and 
helped  me  to  understand  it.  Then  I  believed,  and 
great  light  came  into  my  soul  and  Jesus  Christ 
became  so  precious  to  me!  Oh,  my  friends,  you 
who  live  in  a  country  where  Christianity  has 
taught  that  God  is  our  Father  and  that  he  made 
the  heavens  and  the  earth,  you  cannot  understand 
how  dark  were  these  problems  to  me !" 

No  Sense  of  Sin.  Where  there  is  no  God,  there 
is  no  conscious  transgression — no  adequate  sense 
of  sin.  It  is  proper  to  lie  when  it  is  convenient 
to  do  so.  "It  is  almost  impossible  to  make  a  Jap- 
anese boy  ashamed  of  having  told  a  lie,"  writes 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      69 

a  missionary.  "Show  him  that  his  lie  has  in  it  an 
element  of  cowardice  or  disrespect,  and  he  can  be 
made  to  see  the  evil  of  it,  but  not  because  it  is  an 
offense  against  the  truth  pure  and  simple." 

Social  vices  abound  where  the  sense  of  sin  is 
obscure.  Polygamy,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term 
in  which  it  is  used  in  Africa,  does  not  exist  in 
Japan ;  but  concubinage  is  sanctioned  by  custom. 
Immorality  is  very  lightly  regarded.  Girls  often 
give  themselves  to  lives  of  prostitution  in  order 
to  get  money  to  help  their  brothers  through 
school,  or  help  the  family  through  some  financial 
crisis.  One  woman  in  every  seven,  between  the 
ages  of  fifteen  and  thirty-five,  is  or  has  been  a 
prostitute.  There  is  a  Buddhist  priest  in  Japan 
for  every  five  hundred  of  the  population,  and  the 
great  majority  of  these  frequent  houses  of  ill 
fame  and  make  no  attempt  to  hide  the  evils  of 
their  lives. 

Marriage  and  Family  Customs — Barriers.  A 
great  hindrance  to  missionary  work  is  the  mar- 
riage custom.  A  Christian  leader  writes  :  "Many 
young  people  of  both  sexes,  especially  women, 
hesitate  to  come  out  openly  and  confess  Christ  in 
baptism,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  they  may  be 
shortly  married  to  unbelievers  in  union  with 
whom  they  feel  it  would  be  impossible  for  them 
to  perform  their  Christian  duties.  To  object  to 
a  husband  selected  for  her  by  her  parents,  is  re- 
garded a  very  serious  matter,  and  in  cases  where 
it  does  occur  it  is  often  followed  by  serious  conse- 
quences." 


70  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

Extreme  filial  loyalty  in  Japan,  which  is  an 
outgrowth  of  ancestral  worship,  constitutes  an- 
other barrier.  When  a  young  man  is  convinced 
of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  as  a  rule,  he  at  once 
finds  himself  confronted  with  the  opposition  of 
his  entire  family.  Thousands  in  Japan  are  passing 
through  the  same  test  of  which  Mr.  Kiyoshi  Yabe 
writes :  "When  I  became  a  Christian,  my  father 
was  tremendously  grieved.  He  at  once  came  to 
me  and  asked  if  I  had  not  lost  my  senses.  He 
said,  Tf  you  will  give  up  the  religion  of  your 
ancestors  and  embrace  Christ,  from  now  on  you 
are  no  longer  my  son.'  Thus  my  father  left  me, 
but  I  still  saw  vividly  his  sad  expression.  I  tried 
to  forget  him  but  failed.  For  a  few  minutes  I 
passed  through  a  hard  trial.  I  almost  decided  to 
go  after  my  father  and  tell  him  I  had  changed  my 
mii,id.  While  I  was  somewhat  hesitating  about 
my  important  decision,  the  Holy  Spirit  whispered 
to  my  troubled  soul,  'If  any  man  cometh  unto  me 
and  hateth  not  his  own  father,  and  mother  .  .  . 
yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  cannot  be  my 
disciple.  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved,  thou  and  thy  house.'  When 
I  lifted  up  my  head,  the  solution  of  my  problem 
was  clear." 

The  great  majority  of  converts  in  Japan  thus 
far  have  come  from  the  larger  cities  where  family 
restraints  have  been  lessened  either  by  distance 
or  occupation.  It  is  very  difficult  to  win  converts 
to  Christianity  in  the  smaller  towns  and  in  the 
farming  districts.     This  accounts  in  part  for  the 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      71 

fact  that  the  vast  rural  sections  of  Japan,  consist- 
ing of  thirty-five  million  persons,  are  almost  un- 
touched by  Christian  workers. 

Other  Difihculties.  The  native  churches  have  to 
meet  the  fact  that  many  of  the  leaders  of  Japan 
have  a  misconception  of  Christianity.  They  don't 
see  how  one  can  yield  unreserved  allegiance  to 
Christ  and  at  the  same  time  be  true  to  the  em- 
peror and  Japanese  ideals. 

The  majority  of  the  students  in  Japan  are  ag- 
nostics. Modern  scientific  education  has  under- 
mined their  belief  in  the  realities  of  the  old  reli- 
gions. A  great  multitude  of  them  are  adrift  con- 
cerning all  spiritual  realities.  The  religious  cen- 
sus taken  in  the  University  of  Tokyo,  illustrates 
the  spiritual  conditions  of  the  students  generally 
in  Japan.  Of  the  five  thousand  students  of  this 
university,  six  reported  themselves  as  Confucian- 
ists,  sixty  as  Christians,  three  hundred  as  Bud- 
dhists, one  thousand  as  atheists  and  three  thou- 
sand six  hundred  as  agnostics. 

A  Great  Change.  A  wonderful  change  has 
taken  place  in  Japan  the  last  fifty  years.  The 
missionaries  and  native  Christians  have  had  to 
meet  the  stupendous  difficulties  mentioned,  with 
great  patience,  tact,  and  perseverance.  The  prog- 
ress of  Protestant  missions  since  1872,  when  the 
first  native  church  was  organized  with  eleven 
members,  is  truly  inspiring.  There  are  now  one 
hundred  thousand  Protestant  Christians,  with 
many  more  adherent  members. 


72  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

Living  witnesses  for  Christ  are  found  in  every 
walk  of  life — lawyers,  editors,  professors  in  uni- 
versities, judges,  and  members  of  the  National 
Diet.  The  present  Japanese  chief  justice  of  Ko- 
rea is  a  Christian. 

There  are  no  mass  movements  in  Japan  as  are 
found  in  India.  Every  step  taken  is  by  winning 
individuals  one  at  a  time,  often  through  long 
processes,  away  from  prejudice  and  superstition; 
hence,  the  victories  achieved  represent  much  in 
sacrifice  and  power  on  the  part  of  the  mission- 
aries and  native  members  in  Japan. 

The  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  United  Breth- 
ren mission  in  Japan,  was  recently  celebrated. 
Our  nineteen  native  churches,  with  a  member- 
ship of  over  one  thousand,  and  twenty-one  Sun- 
day schools,  are  directed  by  well-trained,  efficient 
leaders,  thirteen  of  whom  are  ordained  pastors. 

President  Ibuka,  one  of  Japan's  strongest  na- 
tive leaders,  declares :  ''Christianity  is  bringing 
into  the  language  and  literature  of  Japan,  new 
world  views,  new  ideals  of  life,  new  conceptions 
of  sin,  and  new  thoughts  of  God.  The  people  are 
turning  their  eyes  and  thoughts  to  Christianity  as 
that  source  of  power  adequate  to  the  great  task 
of  a  moral  renewal  of  the  people 

"Looking  over  the  past  fifty  years,  and  remem- 
bering all  that  God  has  wrought,  we  may  go  for- 
ward with  good  courage  and  in  strong  confidence 
that  the  Land  of  the  Rising  Sun  may  one  day  be 
made  the  Land  of  the  Risen  Son  of  Righteous- 
ness." 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      IZ 

Porto  Rico  Gild  the  Philippine  Islands 

The  usual  order  of  missionary  development  has 
been  reversed  in  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippine 
Islands.  The  seed  of  the  gospel  in  the  natural 
order  takes  root  first  in  the  life  of  some  individ- 
ual ;  then  it  spreads  to  other  lives  and  permeates 
the  community;  and  last  of  all,  the  civil  govern- 
ment is  changed.  But  in  the  Philippine  Islands 
and  Porto  Rico,  through  the  providence  of  God, 
a  government — the  product  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion— was  given  to  the  people ;  then  Protestant 
missionaries  were  sent  to  preach  and  to  teach 
the  living  Word,  with  the  immense  advantage  of 
working  under  a  Government  which  stands  for 
protection,  liberty,  and  opportunity. 

When  for  humanity's  sake  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
were  placed  over  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines, 
in  1898,  God  had  a  far-reaching  purpose  for  the 
uplift  of  all  Latin  countries  throughout  the  world. 

Poverty  of  the  People.  When  the  American 
missionaries  entered  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philip- 
pines, they  were  greatly  impressed  with  the  ex- 
treme poverty  of  the  people. 

In  the  Philippines,  the  Friars  had  secured  and 
held  the  most  valuable  land,  and  they  rented  the 
same  at  exorbitant  prices.  Thus  the  mass  of  the 
people  were  kept  in  abject  poverty. 

In  Porto  Rico,,  at  the  time  of  the  American 
occupation,  over  one-half  of  the  entire  population 
were  without  remunerative  occupations.  Much 
of  the  land  was  owned  by  persons  who  lived  in 
Spain,  and  the  interior  of  the  island  was  without 


74  OUR  CHURCH   ABROAD 

passable  roads.  To  make  matters  worse,  one- 
fifth  of  the  inhabitants  were  rendered  homeless 
and  a  million  dollars'  worth  of  property  was  de- 
stroyed, in  1899,  by  a  great  hurricane. 

Want  of  School  Facilities.  At  the  time  of  the 
American  occupation,  but  few  schools  were  in 
operation  in  Porto  Rico,  and  these  of  inferior 
g-rade.  In  the  rural  districts,  comprising  over 
seven  hundred  thousand  persons,  there  were  only 
fourteen  so-called  schools,  with  an  enrollment  of 
possibly  two  hundred  and  fifty  pupils,  and  these 
.for  boys  only.  When  the  Americans  took  posses- 
sion of  the  island,  eighty-five  out  of  every  one 
hundred  of  the  population  above  the  age  of  five 
could  neither  read  nor  write. 

In  the  Philippine  Islands,  the  situation  was 
even  more  deplorable.  Of  the  seven  million  peo- 
ple inhabiting  the  islands,  it  is  said  that  only 
a  few  thousand  boys  and  girls  were  in  school  at 
the  time  of  the  American  occupation. 

One  of  the  most  inspiring  incidents  in  all  his- 
tory took  place  in  1901,  when  the  transport 
"Thomas,"  with  five  hundred  and  forty-five 
trained  American  school  teachers  landed  at 
Manila.  All  of  these  were  teachers  of  experience 
or  recent  graduates  of  normal  schools,  colleges, 
and  universities.  They  were  stationed  at  differ- 
ent strategic  places  throughout  the  islands,  and 
the  great  constructive  work  of  modern  education 
began. 

The  growth  of  efficient  schools  in  Porto  Rico 
and    the    Philippines    has    been    remarkable.      In 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      75 

Porto  Rico,  the  number  of  children  attending 
schools  has  increased  during-  the  past  seventeen 
years  from  a  few  thousand  to  two  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand.  In  the  Philippines,  there  were 
one  hundred  thousand  pupils  in  the  schools  in 
1903 ;  three  hundred  and  forty  thousand  in  1905  ; 
and  at  the  present  time,  six  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  children  are  receiving  instruction  in 
schools  that  rank  high  in  efficiency.  There  are 
still  in  Porto  Rico  and  in  the  Philippines  a  half- 
million  children  of  school  age  without  school  fa- 
cilities. 

Immorality  and  Irreligion.  A  census  was  taken 
in  Porto  Rico  soon  after  the  American  occupa- 
tion, which  revealed  the  startling  fact  that  one- 
third  of  the  people  living  as  husband  and  wife 
acknowledged  that  they  were  not  married,  and 
one  hundred  and  forty-eight  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  five  illegitimate  children  were  reported. 

Many  of  the  Catholic  priests,  as  is  declared  by 
their  own  historian,  lived  immoral  lives.  Some 
lived  in  open  concubinage,  and  in  nearly  every 
town  they  were  the  leaders  in  gambling.  "Like 
priest,  like  people" ;  accordingly  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  a  large  percentage  of  the  people  are  im- 
moral. Many  took  refuge  in  the  thought  of  the 
absolution  from  sin  which  the  priest  grants  when 
confession  is  made. 

The  immorality  of  the  priests  and  the  super- 
stition taught  by  the  church,  combined  to  produce 
a  condition  which  caused  thousands  of  the  think- 


76  OUR   CHURCH  ABROAD 

ing  men  to  drift  into  indifference  and  utter  unbe- 
lief concerning  all  spiritual  realities. 

The  priests  put  insuperable  barriers  in  the  way 
of  legal  matrimony  by  charging  excessive  mar- 
riage  fees,   and  this   encouraged   illegitimacy. 

The  Sabbath  for  ages  has  been  the  chief  market 
and  business  day  of  the  week,  and  the  day  for 
gamibling  and  cock  fighting. 

For  four  hundred  years,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  has  had  a  religious  monopoly  in  Porto 
Rico,  and  for  over  three  hundred  years  in  the 
Philippines.  If  ever  a  church  had  an  opportunity 
to  show  what  it  could  do,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  has  had  that  opportunity  in  these  islands. 
Its  failure  as  a  spiritual,  moral,  and  educational 
force  is  abundant  justification  for  the  entrance 
into  these  islands  of  Protestant  missionaries.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  the  Catholic  Church 
in  Latin  countries  is  a  very  different  church  from 
the  one  of  the  same  name  in  the  United  States, 
which,  though  far  from  being  a  true  spiritual 
guide,  has  been  enlightened  by  hundreds  of  years 
of  contact  with  aggressive,  spiritual  Protestant- 
ism. One  must  visit  Latin  countries  to  appre- 
ciate this  contrast. 

Different  Classes  To  Be  Reached.  In  Porto 
Rico,  there  are  the  very  poor  or  peasant  class, 
the  middle  class  or  the  laboring  people,  and  an 
official  class  many  of  whom  have  been  Spaniards. 
In  our  field  there  are  one  hundred  thousand, 
mostly  of  the  middle  and  peasant  classes,  and  the 
strength  of  our  mission  work  in   Porto  Rico  is 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      11 

found  in  the  large  number  of  earnest  working 
people  who  have  been  enlisted.  These  are  defi- 
nitely at  work  to  completely  occu])y  the  territory 
assigned  to  our  communion. 

In  the  Philippine  Islands,  our  native  churches 
are  working  among  three  distinct  types  of  people. 
The  territory  allotted  to  us  contains  about  three 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  Along  the  coast 
are  the  Ilocanos ;  in  the  foothills  of  the  moun- 
tains are  found  the  Bagos ;  while  scattered 
through  the  mountains  of  the  interior  are  thou- 
sands of  wild  and  pagan  Igorrotes.  The  native 
church  finds  in  each  of  these  classes  peculiar 
difiiculties. 

All  of  the  adverse  conditions  already  mentioned 
will  apply  to  the  Ilocanos.  The  Bagos  are  partial- 
ly civilized,  and  were  in  a  transition  stage  when 
the  Americans  took  possession  of  the  islands.  As 
a  result,  they  have  been  quite  open  and  ready  to 
accept  the  gospel. 

The  Igorrotes  of  the  interior  are  wild  pagans 
and  they  have  resisted  all  attempts  to  educate 
and  civilize  them.  They  are  animists,  worshiping 
the  spirits  which  abide  in  the  mountains,  in  the 
stars,  in  the  streams,  and  in  the  air.  Such  a  spirit 
they  call  an  anito.  Anitos  are  worshiped  by 
feasts,  offerings  of  animals,  grain,  and  liquor. 

Although  the  American  government  maintains 
peace  and  a  form  of  government  among  these 
people,  the  real  rulers  are  the  old  men  of  each 
village.  One  of  our  missionaries  who  has  studied 
this  tribe  closelv,  writes :  "The  old  men  are  the 


7S  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

priests,  prophets,  law  makers,  judges,  and  medi- 
cine men.  No  hut  is  built,  no  journey  taken,  no 
field  planted,  no  grain  harvested  and  no  couple 
married  without  the  counsel  or  aid  of  the  patri- 
archs of  the  village." 

A  few  day  schools  have  been  started  for  the 
children  of  these  wild,  pagan  tribes,  and  these  are 
meeting  with  considerable  success.  This  moun- 
tain tribe  will  yet  be  conquered  by  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

Great  Transformation.  One  may  travel  the 
world  over,  and  he  will  not  find  anywhere  else 
such  a  transformation  as  has  taken  place  the  last 
seventeen  years  in  Porto  Rico  and  in  the  Philip- 
pine Islands.  On  the  one  hand,  the  American 
government  has  been  building  roads,  introducing 
sanitary  conditions,  developing  a  stable  represent- 
ative government,  and  establishing  an  excellent 
school  system.  On  the  other  hand,  the  American 
missionaries  have  been  placing  the  Bible  in  the 
hands  of  the  people,  winning  converts,  organizing 
Sunday  schools  and  churches,  and  establishing 
Christian  institutions  of  learning  for  the  training 
of  native  workers.  The  greatest  change  in  these 
islands  is  the  spiritual  transformation  wrought  by 
the  gospel  in  the  lives  of  seventy  thousand  of  the 
people. 

After  studying  conditions  at  first  hand  in  all 
our   foreign   fields,    it   is   the   writer's   conviction 


Filipinos  Who   Have   Not   Had  a   Chanct 


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Students  in  the  Young  Women's  Bible  Training   School,    San    Fernando,    P.    I. 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      81 

that  Africa  presents  the  most  stupendous  diffi- 
culties of  any  mission  field  in  the  world. 

One  of  our  missionaries  who  has  been  working 
for  ten  years  in  the  midst  of  pagan  conditions, 
says :  "It  is  absolutely  impossible  for  one  who 
has  been  born  and  trained  in  a  Christian  land, 
a  land  of  churches,  schools,  and  innumerable  up- 
lifting influences,  to  realize  in  any  adequate  sense 
the  thick  darkness  that  pervades  primitive  Afri- 
can life.  No  matter  how  low  and  destitute  of 
pure  ideals  a  person  might  become  in  a  Christian 
land,  if  he  chooses  to  change  the  course  of  his  life 
he  can,  if  he  will,  have  access  to  all  the  uplifting, 
wholesome  forces  with  which  he  is  surrounded. 
But  in  Africa,  the  people,  individually  or  collec- 
tively, whether  at  work  or  at  play,  w^hether  in  the 
daily  routine  or  in  the  participation  of  special 
religious  ceremony,  are  controlled  by  a  realm  of 
spiritual  darkness  inhabited  by  legions,  of  spirits 
whose  favor,  if  obtained  at  all  by  an  individual, 
family,  or  town,  must  be  sought  through  sacrifice 
and  various  other  efforts.  This  must  be  done 
before  tilling  the  farm,  before  building  a  house, 
and,  in  brief,  throughout  the  whole  course  of  life 
at  every  turn  and  crisis." 

As  we  seek  to  enumerate  the  difficulties  with 
which  the  native  churches  in  Africa  are  con- 
fronted, let  us  remember  and  pray  for  our  native 
leaders,  who  are  struggling  against  tremendous 
odds  in  that  field  to  lead  their  little  churches  into 
the  light  and  liberty  of  Jesus  Christ. 


82  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

Many  Different  Tribes.  There  are  many  hun- 
dreds of  different  tribes  in  Africa,  each  with  its 
own  language,  customs,  and  jealousies.  Our 
workers  in  Sierra  Leone  are  laboring  among  four 
different  tribes,  the  Mendis,  Temnis,  the  Sher- 
bros,  and  the  Konos.  An  effort  has  been  made 
to  reduce  some  of  the  tribal  languages  to  written 
form  and  to  prepare  the  religious  literature  in  the 
native  tongue.  It  has  been  found  as  difficult  to 
teach  the  natives  to  read  and  write  their  own 
language  as  to  read  and  write  the  English  lan- 
guage. Since  English  is  the  official  language, 
our  missionaries  are  teaching  it  in  all  our  schools. 

Polygamy.  In  Africa,  polygamy  is  an  integral 
factor  of  society.  Many  regard  it  the  greatest 
single  obstacle  with  which  Christian  workers 
must  contend.  A  man  in  Africa  is  rated  well-to- 
do  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  wives  he  has. 
There  is  no  family  life  in  pagan  Africa  as  we 
understand  that  term  in  America.  Woman  is 
degraded  and  treated  little  better  than  a  slave. 
The  first  wife  often  urges  her  husband  to  get 
otner  wives.  The  burden  of  the  work  will  then 
be  distributed.  The  problems  that  arise  out  of 
polygamy  are  many.  One  of  the  conditions  of 
membership  in  the  church  is  that  a  man  must 
have  but  one  wife.  The  reader  will  at  once  rec- 
ognize the  difficulties  that  arise  when  a  man  who 
has  taken  a  number  of  wives  while  in  heathenism, 
desires  to  become  a  Christian.  Many  times  there 
are  children  of  a  number  of  wives  recognizing 
the  same  father.     To  put  away  all  the  wives  but 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      83 

one,  with  their  children,  means  to  deprive  the 
children  of  either  the  protection  of  their  father 
or  the  care  and  support  of  their  mother ;  while  the 
wives  who  are  put  away  find  themselves  unpro- 
tected. Add  to  this  the  reproach  that  public 
sentiment  brings  upon  a  woman  in  Africa  who  is 
not  married.  This  problem  is  keeping  many  con- 
verts from  coming  into  full  church  membership. 

Fear  of  Evil  Spirits.  The  native  Africans  are 
in  constant  fear  of  evil  spirits.  They  have  been 
led  captive  by  the  power  of  darkness  and  have 
organized  societies  with  a  view  to  appeasing  the 
devil  and  to  destroy  their  enemies.  Belief  in 
witchcraft  and  fetiches,  or  charms,  is  universal. 
There  is  a  charm  to  protect  them  from  death  by 
wild  beasts,  and  another  to  keep  strangers  from 
killing  them,  and  a  great  variety  to  keep  their 
property  from  being  stolen.  The  charm  or  medi- 
cine is  used  also  in  swearing  a  death  curse  on 
their  enemies.  Many  die  annually  because  of 
these  dark  practices. 

The  writer  found  pagan  Africa  instead  of  being 
passive,  to  be  intensively  active  in  the  works  of 
darkness. 

Fanatical  beliefs  in  charms  or  fetiches  have 
grown  to  such  an  extent  in  some  sections  of 
Africa  as  to  lead  to  the  sacrifice  of  human  lives 
that  the  charm  may  be  anointed  with  human 
flesh,  so  as  to  give  the  one  possessing  the  charm 
the  power  over  his  enemies.  To  obtain  the  human 
victims  to  replenish  these  charms  from  time  to 
time,  societies  have  been  formed,  each  member  of 


84  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

which  is  expected  to  furnish  a  victim  in  turn.  The 
British  gOA^ernment  has  been  seeking  to  stamp 
out  these  evil  practices.  Recently  eight  persons 
were  tried  and  found  guilt}^  and  were  executed. 

Rightly  understood,  this  condition  calls  oiit 
one's  profound  sympathy,  for  the  people  are  in 
darkness  and  are  blindly  seeking  for  the  light. 
They  feel  a  wrong  has  been  done  and  some  sacri- 
fice must  be  made.  They  fear  the  evil  spirits, 
and  hence  the  sacrifice  is  made  to  devils — a  con- 
dition such  as  Paul  found  when  he  wrote  I.  Corin- 
thians 10 :  20,  "The  things  which  the  Gentiles  sac- 
rifice, they  sacrifice  to  devils  and  not  to  God." 

And  now  consider  what  has  been  said  in  the 
foregoing  as  applying  to  a  territory  three  thou- 
sand miles  in  width  from  north  to  south,  and 
which  stretches  from  Freetown  eastward  across 
Africa  a  distance  greater  than  from  New  York 
City  to  San  Francisco.  In  this  vast  area,  there 
are  numberless  tribes  with  a  population  of  over 
eighty  million,  at  least  fifty  million  of  whom  are 
not  included  in  the  present  missionary  plans  for 
the  Dark  Continent. 

Mohammedan  Advance.  Into  the  midst  of 
such  a  situation  as  has  been  described,  Moham- 
medanism has  been  advancing  down  over  Africa 
for  thirteen  centuries.  The  Mohammedan  priests 
proffer  to  the  pagan  African  a  simple  declaration 
that  there  is  only  one  God  and  Mohammed  is  his 
prophet.  They  allow  the  black  man  plural  wives, 
and  they  ofifer  him  powerful  charms  to  drive  away 
evil  spirits.    Under  these  circumstances,  the  rapid 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH      85 

advance  of  Islam  in  Africa  is  easily  understood. 
It  is  estimated  that  there  are  from  forty  to  fifty 
million  Mohammedans  in  Africa.  Sierra  Leone 
is  on  the  advance  line  of  Islam.  The  districts  in 
the  northern  part  of  Sierra  Leone  are  now  from 
fifty  to  seventy  per  cent.  Mohammedan,  while  the 
southern  part  is  almost  entirely  pagan.  In  Free- 
town and  the  adjacent  colony,  Mohammedanism 
increased  fifty  per  cent,  from  1900  to  1910. 

Illiteracy  a  Problem.  The  British  government 
has  done  but  little  to  provide  schools  for  the 
people.  One  of  the  great  problems  of  our  mission 
work  in  Africa  is  that  of  education.  There  are 
three  hundred  thousand  children  of  school  age 
in  Sierra  Leone,  and  for  all  of  these  there  exist 
but  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  schools  with  an 
enrollment  of  ten  thousand  two  hundred  and 
ninety-two.  Of  these,  one  hundred  and  fifty-one 
are  mission  schools  with  an  enrollment  of  nine 
thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy-one;  five  are 
Mohammedan  schools,  which  have  but  seven  hun- 
dred and  seventy-eight  pupils,  and  two  are  gov- 
ernment schools  with  an  enrollment  of  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-three.  It  will  be  seen  by  this  that 
only  one  person  in  twenty-five  of  school  age  in 
Sierra  Leone  has  school  privileges. 

The  United  Brethren  mission  has  done  excel- 
lent work  in  establishing  primary  and  secondary 
schools.  These  schools  received,  the  past  year, 
one  thousand  dollars  in  grants  from  the  British 
government  in  recognition  of  their  efficient  work. 
The  emphasis  our  mission  places  on  manual  train- 


86  OUR  CHURCH   ABROAD 

ing  and  other  practical  features  of  Christian  edu- 
cation, has  had  a  good  effect  on  other  schools  in 
Sierra  Leone. 

Pioneer  Workers.  The  hinterland  of  Sierra 
Leone,  with  its  pagan  difficulties,  was  almost 
untouched  by  Christian  missions  when  the  United 
Brethren  Church  began  work  in  1855.  The  gos- 
pel banner  set  up  by  our  brave  missionaries  and 
their  native  co-workers,  has  been  dispelling  dark- 
ness and  bringing  deliverance  to  thousands  of  sin- 
smitten  souls.  God-filled  native  Christians  are 
the  Good  Samaritans  ministering  to  the  wounded 
man  of  the  Dark  Continent.  Africa  will  yet  be 
won  to  Christ. 

"I  know  of  a  land  that  is  sunk  in  shame, 
,Of  hearts  that  faint  and  tire ; 
And  I  know  of  a  Name,  a  Name,  a  Name, 

Can  set  that  land  on  fire. 
Its  sound  is  a  brand,  its  letters  flame — 
I  know  of  a  Name,  a  Name,  a  Name, 
Will  set  that  land  on  fire." 

Difficulties  Call  Great  Souls  to  Action.   As  we 

review  the  conditions,  the  problems,  and  the  ap- 
palling difficulties  in  our  five  foreign  fields,  in 
the  midst  of  which  our  loyal  native  leaders  and 
their  infant  churches  are  fighting  the  good  fight 
of  faith,  we  can  understand  how  noble  Christian 
men  and  women  of  America  are  willing  to  for- 
sake their  friends  and  their  homes  to  have  a  share 
in  such  a  task  at  the  front. 


CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  CHURCH     87 

"It  is  great  to  be  out  where  the  fight  is  strong, 
To  be  where  the  heaviest  troops  belong, 

And  to  fight  for  man  and  God. 
Oh,  it  seams  the  face  and    it  dries  the  brain, 
It  strains  the  nerve  till  one's  friend  is  pain, 

In  the  fight  for  man  and  God." 


IV 
THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK 

God's  method  of  developing  churches  in  all 
lands  is  given  in  Ephesians  4:11-13:  "And  he 
gave  some  to  be  apostles ;  and  some,  prophets  ; 
and  some,  evangelists ;  and  some,  pastors  and 
teachers ;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  unto 
the  work  of  ministering,  unto  the  building  up  of 
the  body  of  Christ:  till  we  all  attain  unto  the 
unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
Son  of  God,  unto  a  fullgrown  man,  unto  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ." 

First  comes  the  apostle.  The  word  "apostle" 
means  "sent  forth."  A  foreign  missionary  is  an 
apostle — one  sent  to  preach  Christ  where  he  has 
not  been  known.  The  foreign  missionary  often 
performs  the  functions  of  prophet,  or  preacher, 
and  of  evangelist  also. 

The  missionary  wins  the  first  converts  and 
organizes  them  into  native  churches.  Native 
pastors  are  then  called  out,  trained,  and  placed 
over  the  churches,  and  teachers  are  raised  up  in 
local  churches  to  instruct  and  guide  the  children 
and  church  members.  All  of  these  leaders  are 
provided  to  direct  the  church  membership  "unto 
the  work  of  ministering,  unto  the  building  up  of 
the  body  of  Christ." 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK  89 

Developing  Native  Churches  and  Native  Lead- 
ers. The  apostle,  or  foreign  missionary,  starts 
the  church,  guides  it  in  its  initial  steps,  and 
gradually  turns  over  responsibility  to  the  native 
church  as  fast  as  it  is  able  to  direct  its  own  work. 

Under  the  blessing  of  God,  our  missionaries 
have  mastered  the  eight  languages  through  which 
their  message  must  be  conveyed,  and  have  won 
the  first  converts.  The  missionaries  and  the  na- 
tive pastors  have  organized  one  hundred  and  four 
native  churches.  In  addition,  there  are  six  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine  preaching-places,  in  some 
of  which  we  hope  soon  to  have  organized 
churches. 

God  has  raised  up,  under  the  labors  of  our  mis- 
sionaries, one  hundred  and  eighty  native  work- 
ers— in  Africa,  seventy-three ;  in  China,  forty- 
four  ;  in  Japan,  twenty-two ;  in  Porto  Rico,  seven- 
teen, and  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  twenty-four. 
Thirty-two  of  these  are  ordained  preachers ;  oth- 
ers are  licensed  preachers  pursuing  courses  of 
study  with  a  view  to  ordination. 

Laying  Foundations  Amid  Adverse  Conditions. 
To  lay  the  foundations  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  non-Christian  lands,  is  an  unspeakable  privi- 
lege. It  is  important  that  the  native  church  from 
the  very  beginning  be  of  such  a  type  as  shall 
enable  the  spirit  of  God  to  work  powerfully 
through  it. 

As  we  consider  the  work  of  the  churches 
abroad,  we  should  keep  in  mind  the  depressing 


90  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

conditions  and  stupendous  difficulties  with  which 
they  are  grappling,  as  set  forth  in  the  previous 
chapter;  also  the  fact  that  more  than  one-half  of 
our  churches  abroad  are  less  than  seven  years 
old  and  are  taking  their  first  steps  in  obedience 
to  God.  With  prayerful  sympathy  let  us  follow 
them. 

Winning  Souls  to  Christ 

The  missionary  and  the  native  pastor  must  be 
evangelistic — must  be  soul-winners — in  order  that 
the  entire  native  church  may  be  a  powerful  evan- 
gelistic agency.  No  missionary  or  native  pastor 
is  qualified  for  his  work  unless  he  has  a  vivid  and 
abiding  sense  of  the  divine  reality  and  power  of 
the  gospel  message. 

In  the  presence  of  the  mighty  powers  of  dark- 
ness, nothing  but  a  firm  belief  in  the  supernatural, 
miracle-working  power  of  Jesus  Christ  will  suf- 
fice. Our  native  pastors  must  be  able  to  stand 
alone  in  the  midst  of  thousands  who  oppose  them 
and  declare  their  allegiance  to  Christ,  who  said, 
"Behold,  I  give  unto  you  power  .  .  .  over  all 
the  power  of  the  enemy."  They  must  believe  and 
act  upon  the  belief  that  the  gospel  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation,  and  that  it  is  the  only 
thing  in  the  world  that  can  transform  character 
and  lead  every  individual  won  to  be  a  winner  of 
others. 

Many  Avenues  of  Approach.  The  conditions 
in  our  foreign  fields  are  such  that  much  prelim- 
inary   seed-sowing    must    be    done,    sometimes 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK  91 

through  a  period  of  long  years,  before  large  num- 
bers can  be  led  to  Christ. 

A  great  variety  of  evangelistic  agencies  and 
methods  are  employed.  Souls  are  being  saved 
through  conversations  with  individuals,  visits  in 
private  homes,  Bible-class  work,  street-chapel 
preaching,  evangelistic  services  at  dispensaries, 
and  by  student  evangelistic  bands ;  also  through 
the  distribution  of  Bibles  and  books  over  wide 
areas  by  colporteurs,  and  by  the  circulation  of 
our  weekly  and  monthly  religious  papers.  The 
Sunday  school,  Young  People's  societies,  and 
church  services  are  often  made  evangelistic. 

Power  of  the  Bible  Class.  One  of  the  most 
fruitful  agencies  in  soul-winning  has  been  the 
Bible  class.  Many  of  our  first  converts  were  won 
in  these  classes.  Often  the  testimony  is  heard, 
"It  was  the  Old  Book  that  captured  my  heart 
and  changed  my  life." 

The  municipal  judge  of  Penuelas,  Porto  Rico, 
owned  a  large  grocery  store  at  which,  as  in  all 
such  stores  in  Porto  Rico,  strong  drinks  were 
sold.  The  judge  was  persuaded  to  join  a  Bible 
class  in  the  study  of  the  Gospel  of  John.  He 
became  interested,  secured  a  Bible  of  his  own, 
and  spent  much  time  in  reading  it.  He  soon 
made  a  public  profession  of  his  faith  in  Christ. 
Then  came  the  crisis.  The  judge  discovered  he 
could  not  be  responsible  for  the  selling  of  liquors, 
and  so  at  great  personal  sacrifice,  he  closed  the 
business.  Then  he  wrote  :  *'I  am  now  free  from 
the  liquor  business,  and  I  am  happy  I  can  be  a 


92  OUR   CHURCfl   ABROAD 

true  Christian.  I  want  to  be  baptized  and  to 
join  the  church."  The  judge  was  baptized  by 
Bishop  Mathews  when  he  visited  Porto  Rico, 
and  was  received  into  the  church  with  great  joy. 
Until  his  recent  death,  he  was  a  pillar  of  strength 
in  his  local  church. 

Training  Students  in  Soul- Winning.  Evangel- 
ism is  a  part  of  the  program  of  our  more  ad- 
vanced schools  abroad.  The  students  of  the  Albert 
Academy  are  organized  in  an  itinerant  league  and 
the  members  go  to  all  parts  of  Freetown  every 
Sunday  morning,  giving  the  gospel  in  the  Mendi, 
Temni,  and  Creole.  This  league  spends  every 
Thursday  night  in  special  prayer  for  their  work. 

The  girls  of  the  Miller  Seminary  are  co-oper- 
ating in  evangelistic  meetings  in  Siu  Lam,  China, 
by  chorus  singing,  and  by  visitation  in  the  homes 
where  the  men  have  already  been  won  to  Christ, 
with  a  view  to  leading  the  wives  and  daughters 
to  a  decision.  After  talking  and  singing  the 
gospel  for  a  long  while  in  one  home  that  was 
crowded  to  overflowing  with  neighbors,  the 
meeting  was  dismissed  but  no  one  moved  to  go. 
They  were  eager  to  hear  more. 

The  graduates  of  the  Young  Women's  Bible 
Training  School  of  the  Philippines  have  done 
effective  work  in  evangelistic  meetings  in  many 
towns. 

Standards  on  Evangelism.  The  Spirit  of  God 
is  coming  with  more  and  more  power  upon  the 
native  churches  abroad.  In  Africa,  where  the 
most  desperate  conflict  rages  between  light  and 


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THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK  95 

darkness,    the    native    pastors    and    missionaries 
approved  the  following  evangelistic  standards  : 

1.  "That  we  will  place  no  value  upon  any 
work  we  do,  whether  it  be  in  the  pulpit,  school- 
room, workshop,  or  dispensary,  unless  it  be  done 
with  a  view  to  the  glory  of  God  in  the  salvation 
of  precious  souls. 

2.  ''That  we  ask  the  Spirit  of  God  to  guide  us 
in  making  soul-winners  of  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  now  within  the  fold. 

3.  "That  those  who  seek  admission  into  the 
church  shall  be  made  to  feel  that  a  test  of  their 
sincerity  in  accepting  Christ  is  a  passion  on  their 
part  to  make  him  known  to  others." 

These  workers  looked  squarely  at  the  condi- 
tions of  the  church  and  the  needs  of  the  unevan- 
gelized,  and,  after  beholding  the  riches  and  glory 
of  Jesus  Christ  through  Bible  study  and  prayer, 
they  went  forth  to  their  great  tasks.  Soon  after 
this,  the  power  of  God  began  to  fall  on  them. 
One  wrote :  "I  have  received  a  new  spiritual  bur- 
den for  the  salvation  of  souls.  Nine  persons  have 
earnestly  asked  for  prayer."  "I  feel,"  declares 
another,  "there  is  nothing  too  hard  to  be  at- 
tempted in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ."  Within  a 
few  months,  great  revivals  broke  out  at  Roti- 
funk,  Ronietta,  Taiama,  and  other  stations,  and 
many  of  the  leading  men  of  these  towns,  includ- 
ing chiefs  and  Mohammedans,  were  converted. 

Fields  Ripe  for  Evangelism.  During  the  open- 
ing years  of  mission  work  in  the  Philippines,  and 
in  Porto  Rico,  large  numbers  came  to  hear  the 


96     -  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

missionaries,  and  many  were  ready  to  indicate 
their  acceptance  of  the  gospel  message  without 
seriously  considering  the  cost  of  the  step  about  to 
be  taken.  In  many  cases,  it  meant  merely  that 
the  people  were  turning  away  from  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  which  had  so  grievously  op- 
pressed them.  But  the  tests  and  training  for 
church  membership  soon  sifted  the  sincere,  gen- 
uine converts  from  those  who  had  received  the 
seed  on  stony  ground. 

In  Porto  Rico,  at  the  regular  weekly  services, 
as  well  as  in  the  special  evangelistic  meetings, 
opportunity  is  frequently  given  for  making  public 
confession  of  faith.  Hence,  all  the  meetings  are 
more  or  less  evangelistic,  and  there  has  been  a 
natural  and  splendid  growth  on  profession  of 
faith  right  through  the  years. 

The  Sunday  school  in  Porto  Rico  is  given  an 
exalted  place,  it  being  the  only  morning  service 
in  the  churches.  The  attendance  is  generally 
larger  than  the  church  membership.  The  ses- 
sions of  the  school  are  often  very  evangelistic. 

Winning  Souls  in  the  Sunday  School.  The 
writer  Avill  always  remember  with  inspiration 
a  visit  to  our  Sunday  school  at  Ponce,  which  is 
now  the  largest  school  in  our  foreign  fields.  The 
lesson  taught  was  the  third  chapter  of  the  Gospel 
according  to  St.  John.  The  superintendent  re- 
viewed the  lesson  at  the  close  of  the  session  in 
an  impressive,  winning  manner.  Then  he  re- 
quested that  all  bow  their  heads  in  prayer.  He 
appealed    to    those    present   who    had    heard   the 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK  97 

Word  to  accept  it  at  once  and  to  respond  to  the 
love  of  God,  who  sent  his  Son  ."that  whosoever 
believeth  on  him  should  not  perish  but  have  ever- 
lasting life."  The  moment  was  most  impressive. 
AVithout  being  unduly  urged,  eleven  persons 
quietly  arose  and  ^made  the  great  decision.  The 
session  closed  with  two  or  three  voluntary  pray- 
ers, and  the  names  of  those  who  had  made  the 
choice  were  secured  and  enrolled  in  a  class  for 
further  instruction  and  intercession. 

Soul-Winning  First  Place  in  Quarterly  Meet- 
ings. Much  emphasis  is  given  to  the  quarterly 
meetings  in  our  fields  abroad,  and  evangelism 
holds  a  central  place  even  in  the  business  meet- 
ings. Our  workers  in  Africa  are  now  planning 
the  most  extensive,  thorough  quarterly  meetings 
ever  held. 

In  a  visit  to  the  Philippine  Islands,  the  writer 
was  especially  interested  in  the  reports  submitted 
at  the  quarterly  meeting  by  lay  preachers,  who 
serve  without  salary.  Some  reported  as  many 
as  one  hundred  and  sixty  personal  interviews 
with  men  whom  they  sought  to  lead  to  Christ 
during  the  three  months. 

Men  like  old  Pio  Dungan  give  half  of  their  time 
to  evangelism.  "Every  other  week  is  the  Lord's," 
said  old  Pio,  as  he  started  out  on  his  tour  of  vil- 
lages covering  seven  days.  The  influence  of  this 
one  man  has  been  remarkable.  "For  the  gospel's 
sake  I  have  lost  very  many  friends,"  says  Pio, 
"but  I  care  not ;  I  have  a  Friend  who  loved  me 


98  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

and  gave  himself  for  me,  and  I  will  continue  to 
tell  of  his  love  as  long  as  I  live." 

Powerful  Institutes.  Much  attention  is  given 
in  all  our  foreign  fields  to  the  training  of  native 
workers  in  institutes.  The  Bible  institute  held 
in  the  Philippine  Islands  in  March,  1914,  started 
a  mighty  evangelistic  movement.  The  native 
workers  and  the  missionaries  sought  during  this 
institute  for  the  deepening  of  their  own  spiritual 
lives.  One  morning,  after  a  period  of  united 
prayer,  it  was  thought  best  to  dismiss  the  forty 
workers  that  each  might  go  to  his  own  room  and 
spend  the  morning  in  meditation  and  prayer.  The 
next  morning,  all  were  assembled  for  regular 
class  work,  but  when  the  institute  opened,  the 
spirit  of  prayer  so  swept  over  the  hearts  of  all 
that  they  continued  in  intercession  for  three 
hours.  Many  wept  and  acknowledged  their  lack 
of  faith  ;  others  confessed  their  sins  to  God  and 
to  one  another,  and  rededicated  their  lives  for 
the  winning  of  others  to  Christ.  Native  pastors, 
volunteer  workers,  and  deaconesses  went  forth 
from  this  institute  to  enter  into  an  evangelistic 
campaign  which  resulted,  during  the  twelve 
months  that  followed,  in  adding  four  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  souls  to  the  native  church — by  far  the 
largest  number  of  converts  received  during  any 
year  since  the  beginning  of  the  mission.  The 
power  of  this  evangelistic  movement  in  the  Phil- 
ippines continues  unabated. 

A  Layman  Starts  Two  Churches.  A  guard  in 
the  prison  at  Kyoto,  named  Mr.  Toda,  was  led 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK  99 

to  Christ  while  attending  an  English  Bible  class. 
From  the  very  beginning,  he  had  a  strong  passion 
to  win  his  family  and  neighbors  to  Christ,  and 
secured  the  co-operation  of  Mr.  Ishiguro  to  hold 
gospel  meetings  in  his  own  home.  Largely 
through  the  efforts  of  this  layman  and  the  testi- 
mony of  his  earnest  Christian  life,  our  Second 
United  Brethren  Church  in  Kyoto  was  organ- 
ized. 

Later,  Mr.  Toda  and  famil}^  moved  to  Osaka, 
the  largest  commercial  center  in  Japan.  Here 
he  set  to  work  to  win  souls,  and  in  a  short  time 
persuaded  the  United  Brethren  Mission  to  give 
ninety  dollars  for  the  fixing  up  of  a  private  house 
for  public  worship  in  a  district  of  one  hundred 
thousand  people  without  gospel  privileges.  God 
blessed  the  effort,  and  when  the  writer  visited 
Japan,  he  found  there  a  native  church  of  seventy- 
five  wide-awake  Christian  men  and  women  work- 
ing enthusiastically  to  save  their  great  city. 

A  Three  Years'  Campaign.  The  Christian 
workers  of  all  the  churches  in  Japan  are  now 
engaged  in  a  well-directed  three  years'  evan- 
gelistic campaign.  Two  of  the  leading  tracts  for 
wide  circulation  in  this  movement,  were  prepared 
by  Mr.  Ishiguro. 

Bishop  A.  T.  Howard,  who  was  present  in 
Japan  wdien  this  movement  was  launched,  says : 
"This  great  campaign  is  drawling  together  men 
who  have  never  w^orked  side  by  side  before.  It 
is  enlisting  such  new  workers  as  Mrs.  Hiraeka, 
a  member  of  one  of  the  most  famous,  w^ealthiest, 


100  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

and  most  exclusive  families  in  Japan,  and  Mr. 
Moromura,  a  well-known  banker.  Not  only  stu- 
dents and  ordinary  groups,  but  also  the  highest 
officials,  are  hearing  the  gospel,  in  a  somewhat 
adequate  way,  through  this  movement." 

Union  evangelistic  meetings  were  held  in  Ky- 
oto in  November,  1915,  when  great  multitudes 
witnessed  the  coronation  of  the  emperor.  Three 
meetings  were  held  daily,  and  twelve  hundred 
decisions  are  reported.  One  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  persons  signed  cards  preferring  our  First 
Church,  Kyoto,  where  Mr.  Ishiguro  is  the  pastor. 

A  New  Day  for  Siu  Lam,  China.  When  our 
missionaries  began  work  in  China,  they  met  with 
stubborn  and  persistent  opposition  everywhere. 
Nothing  but  sublime  faith  and  great  perseverance 
could  have  sustained  them  through  the  years  of 
severe  test. 

After  much  patient,  faithful  work,  the  most 
remarkable  revival  in  the  history  of  our  China 
mission  is  now  taking  place  in  Siu  Lam.  Prep- 
aration for  this  work  began  three  years  ago  when 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  F.  W.  Davis  were  sent  to  Siu  Lam 
as  evangelistic  missionaries.  After  making  a 
careful  study  of  the  field,  Mr.  Davis  reported  that 
Siu  Lam  presented  a  matchless  opportunity  for 
soul  winning.  It  is  a  city  as  large  as  Akron, 
Canton,  and  Dayton,  Ohio,  combined.  Here  is 
located  our  flourishing  Miller  Seminary,  and  a 
new  hospital  will  soon  be  erected.  The  people 
of  Siu  Lam  belong  to  the  middle  class  and  many 
of  them  are  educated. 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK  101 

Planning  to  Evangelize  an  Entire  City.     The 

United  Brethren  Church  is  directly  responsible 
for  the  evangelization  of  this  city  of  four  hundred 
thousand,  and  the  towns  adjacent.  The  task  is  a 
stupendous  one ;  but,  facing  all  the  difficulties 
involved,  yiv.  Davis  declared:  ''JVe  must  come  to 
God  zvitli  a  robust  faith  that  zvill  send  us  bounding 
to  our  task,  able  to  triumph  over  every  difficulty f 
He  proposed  to  divide  the  city  into  ten  districts 
and  erect  a  street  chapel  in  each,  with  a  Chinese 
preacher  and  a  Bible  Avoman  in  charge.  This  will 
give  each  native  pastor,  when  he  can  be  secured, 
a  parish  of  forty  thousand.  When  the  plan  is 
fully  inaugurated,  the  native  pastors  of  the  dis- 
tricts will  meet  once  each  week  with  the  mis- 
sionary in  charge,  for  Bible  study,  prayer,  and 
for  the  discussion  of  their  practical  problems. 
This  will  afford  the  rarest  Christian  fellowship, 
promote  unity  of  effort,  and  give  to  each  native 
pastor  spiritual  enthusiasm,  and  a  tongue  of  fire. 
Once  each  year,  the  entire  force  will  assemble 
and  hold  a  great  union  evangelistic  meeting. 

A  Series  of  Victories.  It  was  a  comparatively 
easy  matter  to  plan  thus  for  the  evangelization 
of  a  great  city.  The  test  came  when  the  mission- 
ary attempted  to  put  this  plan  into  operation;  for 
he  found  the  native  church  impotent  before  its 
gigantic  task.  Accordingly,  he  set  to  work  to 
master  the  native  language  more  perfectly  and 
to  get  into  close,  sympathetic  fellowship  with  the 
native  workers  and  the  church  membership.  The 
missionary  found  much  indift'erence  and  opposi- 


102  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

tion,  but,  by  winning  one  at  a  time,  he  led  them 
to  discover  their  possibilities  in  Christ  through 
Bible  study,  prayer,  and  the  consecration  of  their 
talents  and  their  money  to  God.  It  took  more 
than  a  year  to  prepare  the  native  Christians  for 
an  evangelistic  campaign.  Then  two  evangelistic 
meetings  were  held  each  day  for  four  successive 
days.  Wonderful  power  from  God  came  upon 
the  people,  and  one  hundred  and  fourteen  of  the 
leading  citizens  of  Siu  Lam  decided  for  Christ. 
Some  of  them  were  teachers,  others  students  and 
business  men,  the  majority  of  them  young  men 
between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  thirty  years.  All 
of  these  were  organized  into  Bible  classes,  and 
received  instruction  in  the  fundamentals  of  the 
Christian  life  and  in  soul-winning.  After  three 
months  of  study,  prayer,  and  training,  forty-four 
of  them  were,  in  one  day,  baptized  and  received 
into  the  Church. 

Rev.  E.  B.  Ward,  our  superintendent  in  China, 
was  present  at  Siu  Lam  at  this  memorable  time. 
"It  was  a  day  long  looked  for,"  writes  Mr.  Ward. 
"From  the  days  of  Doctor  Shumaker  on  down 
to  the  present,  many  of  us  have  hoped  to  see 
what  our  eyes  saw  in  Siu  Lam  on  June  20,  1915. 
I  was  only  a  visitor  and  a  witness.  It  rained  and 
the  people  got  wet,  but  their  ardor  was  not 
dampened.  The  church  was  filled.  After  the 
sermon,  the  candidates  for  baptism  were  asked 
to  come  forward.  It  began  to  look  as  though  the 
front  of  the  church  would  have  to  be  enlarged 
as  they  kept  coming.     Two  deep  they  stood,  on 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK  103 

the  men's  side,  and  then  the  line  extended  across 
the  entire  place.  I  recognized  many,  who  in 
other  days  were  bitter  opponents,  now  acknowl- 
edging Christ  before  their  neighbors  and  receiv- 
ing the  once  despised  but  now  sacred  rite  of 
baptism. 

"In  the  evening,  the  native  pastor,  Wong  Sun 
Shan,  Mr.  Davis,  and  I  went  to  Kau  Chau  Ki, 
the  flourishing  young  mission  of  the  Siu  Lam 
church  and  now  worthy  of  itself  to  be  called  a 
church.  The  services  held  reminded  one  of  the 
gospel  team  work  carried  on  in  America  by  busi- 
ness men  and  students.  We  three  were  the  team. 
No  sermon  was  preached,  but  witness  was  borne 
to  the  reality  of  salvation  and  God's  power  to 
help.  When  Mr.  Davis  called  for  decisions, 
eleven  men  took  their  stand  on  the  spot." 

A  Still  Greater  Campaign.  The  inspiration  of 
each  victory  at  Siu  Lam  is  translated  into  larger 
purpose  and  plans. 

During  the  opening  days  of  1916.  another  series 
of  evangelistic  meetings  were  held  in  Siu  Lam  in 
connection  with  the  sessions  of  the  annual  con- 
ference. A  mat  shed  large  enough  to  accommo- 
date one  thousand  persons  was  erected.  The  stu- 
dents of  the  Miller  Seminary  took  part  in  gospel 
singing  and  in  personal  work.  Admission  to  the 
afternoon  and  evening  meetings  was  by  ticket. 
The  shed  was  crowded  and  many  were  turned 
away.  One  hundred  persons  made  the  great  sur- 
render and  joined  Bible  classes. 


104  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

Self-Support 

To  win  large  numbers  to  Christ  is  but  the  first 
step  in  the  work  of  an  aggressive  church.  Each 
young  convert  must  be  taught  the  principles  of 
Christian  stewardship  and  of  social  service,  and 
be  directed  in  the  practical  application  of  these 
principles  to  the  local  church,  in  the  home,  and 
in  the  community.  The  work  of  instructing  and 
directing  3^oung  converts,  is  recognized  as  a  very 
important  part  of  the  task  of  both  the  mission- 
aries and  the  native  leaders.  Our  ablest  workers 
abroad  are  teaching  the  infant  churches  that  the 
privilege  of  receiving  the  gospel  carries  zvith  it  the 
obligation  of  self-support  and  of  giving  the  gospel 
to  others. 

When  a  local  church  abroad  is  about  to  be 
organized,  its  leaders  are  taught  at  the  beginning 
that  the  native  church  must  be  responsible  for 
its  own  support,  and  that  if  mission  funds  are 
to  be  used  at  all,  the  same  must  be  considered  as 
simply  a  grant-in-aid  until  such  time  as  the  native 
church  can  support  its  own  work.  A  vital  prin- 
ciple is  here  involved.  Though  the  native  Chris- 
tians are  very  poor,  yet  it  is  as  important  to 
awaken  the  spirit  of  self-help  and  of  missionary 
giving  in  a  church  in  China  or  Africa,  as  it  is 
in  America. 

Native  Money  for  Native  Pastors.  It  may  take 
years  to  reach  it,  but  the  wisest  leaders  abroad 
hold  that  the  ideal  should  be,  ''Missionary  money 
for  the  support  of  foreign  missionaries,  and  native 
money  for  the  support  of  native  workers."     Na- 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK  105 

tive  pastors  and  churches  in  non-Christian  lands 
are  taught  not  to  look  to  the  United  States  for 
their  support,  for  this  would  hinder  the  growth 
in  self-support.  If  they  must  receive  aid,  the 
mission  itself  gives  help,  with  the  distinct  under- 
standing that  it  will  be  for  a  brief  period  only, 
until  the  native  Christians  are  able  to  support  in 
full  their  own  work.  As  a  rule,  is  has  not  been 
found  wise  to  assign  to  an  individual  or  a  church 
in  America  the  support  of  a  native  pastor  abroad, 
for  if  the  native  Christians  learn  that  their  pastor 
is  being  supported  with  funds  from  America,  it 
will  lessen  their  sense  of  responsibility  in  the  sup- 
port of  their  own  pastor,  and  such  a  course  will 
also  deprive  the  native  pastor  of  the  incentive  to 
develop  a  self-supporting,  aggressive  congrega- 
tion. 

It  is  entirely  proper  and  desirable  for  Chris- 
tians in  America  to  support  foreign  missionaries 
and  native  evangelists  who  are  not  dependent 
upon  local  churches  for  their  support;  also 
scholarships  in  schools,  or  shares  in  the  entire 
work  of  a  field. 

Rapid  Growth  in  Self-Support.  A  large  place 
is  given  at  the  annual  conference  and  institutes 
abroad  to  the  discussion  of  such  themes  as 
Christian  stewardship,  systematic  giving,  and  the 
importance  of  developing  self-support  and  self- 
propagation.  The  educational  campaign  and  ev- 
ery-member  canvass  for  funds  for  local  needs  and 
benevolences,  have  been  introduced  into  the  na- 
tive churches. 


106  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

Japan  was  the  first  foreign  mission  conference 
to  adopt  a  definite  policy  on  self-support.  In  that 
field,  all  the  current  expenses  of  the  local  church- 
es, and  at  least  part  of  the  pastors'  salaries,  are 
contributed  by  the  native  membership.  Some  of 
the  churches  are  almost  self-supporting. 

The  workers  in  Porto  Rico  have  been  empha- 
sizing- systematic  giving,  both  in  the  local 
churches  and  in  the  Sunday  schools,  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  and  good  progress  has  been  made. 

A  definite  policy  of  self-support  is  being  worked 
out  in  the  Philippines,  and  the  native  churches 
in  that  field  are  seeking  to  raise  twenty-five  per 
cent,  of  their  pastors'  salaries  this  year. 

In  Africa,  under  the  wise  supervision  of  Rev. 
E.  M.  Hursh,  there  has  been  a  gain  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  per  cent,  in  gifts  for  self-support, 
during  the  last  two  years.  Individual  native 
churches  contributed,  last  year,  from  thirty  to 
four  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  for  self-support 
and  for  missionary  work.  One-fourth  of  all  the 
offerings  lifted  are  designated  for  missions.  The 
churches  at  Bonthe  and  Freetown  have  now 
assumed  the  full  support  of  their  respective  pas- 
tors. 

Until  recently,  but  little  progress  was  made  in 
China  toward  self-support,  but  the  spirit  of  self- 
help  is  now  taking  a  firm  grip  on  the  Chinese 
pastors  and  churches. 

Siu  Lam  Becomes  Self  -  Supporting.  The 
achievement  in  self-support  at  Siu  Lam,  illus- 
trates   the    difficulties    involved,   and   also    what 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK         107 

can    be    accomplished    by    enthusiastic,    faithful 
workers. 

One  who  took  part  in  the  effort,  writes :  "The 
church  at  Siu  Lam,  like  most  other  places  in 
China,  had  entrenched  itself  behind  three  false 
positions  regarding  self-support :  First,  we  are 
too  poor ;  second,  we  are  too  weak ;  and  third, 
asking  for  money  will  hinder  people  from  enter- 
ing the  church. 

"They  were  shown  first  that  the  stock  argument 
of  poverty  was  no  excuse.  One  Chinese  pastor 
said,  'You  must  not  think  that  the  reason  the 
Chinese  church  is  not  self-supporting  is  because 
we  do  not  want  self-support;  we  are  actually  too 
poor.'  'That  is  exactly  what  I  do  think,'  was 
the  reply.  'You  don't  sufficiently  want  self-sup- 
port or  you  would  have  it.  The  churches  of 
Macedonia  out  of  their  poverty  had  sufficient  not 
only  for  self-support,  but  also  contributed  gener- 
ously to  the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem  also.  Not 
only  so,  but  Korea  is  poorer  than  China,  and 
they  have  many  self-supporting  churches.  Don't 
you  see  that  your  trouble  does  not  lie  in  your 
poverty  at  all?  It  is  in  your  heart  and  your 
spiritual  attitude  toward  Christ  and  the  church.' 

"The  second  argument  was  usually  put  in  this 
form :  'We  are  still  children.'  To  this  we  re- 
plied :  'We  refuse  to  recognize  you  as  children, 
and  you  should  refuse  to  regard  yourselves  as 
such.  You  are  men,  not  children.  Regard  your- 
selves as  men,  and  you  will  be  strong  and  quit 
yourselves  like  men.' 


108  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

/'Their  third  objection — 'Asking  for  money  will 
hinder  people  from  entering  the  church' — had 
caused  them  to  take  on  a  subtle  form  of  false 
pride.  Some  were  actually  ashamed  to  take  up 
an  offering  in  the  Sunday  services.  They  had 
to  be  shown  that  giving  is  a  grace,  an  act  of 
worship,  an  offering  well  pleasing  to  Gody  and 
not  something  of  which  to  be  ashamed. 

"In  addition  to  frequent  preaching  along  this 
line  for  a  year,  we  prayed  that  the  Lord  would 
do  what  man  with  his  best  teaching  and  method 
cannot  do,  namely,  quicken  their  consciences  and 
impel  them  to  give  as  God  had  prospered  them. 
The  average  wage  of  the  membership  of  the 
church  was  secured,  and  they  were  shown  what 
could  be  done  by  giving  a  tenth  of  their  income. 
The  ambition  for  self-support  began  to  take  hold 
of  the  church  membership.  The  every-member 
canvass  was  made  for  funds  to  support  the  native 
pastor  and  all  local  needs.  The  result  was  a  glad 
surprise.  The  church  was  put  on  a  self-support- 
ing basis  at  once,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  after 
proper  instruction  and  inspiration,  the  congrega- 
tion pledged  to  double  its  offerings  for  the  ensu- 
ing twelve  months. 

"The  greatest  blessing-,  however,  is  not  the  dol- 
lars and  cents,  but  the  new  spirit  of  faith  and 
service  which  the  increased  sense  of  responsibility 
has  brought  the  church.  They  all  have  now  a 
common  interest  in  the  development  of  the 
church,  and  are  not  only  paying  members,  but 
working  members." 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK         109 

Missionary  Extension 

Missionary  giving  is  an  essential  part  of  the 
work  of  the  churches  abroad.  The  rising  native 
churches  must  complete  the  evangelization  of 
their  ovvai  countries,  after  the  work  has  been 
properly  started  by  foreign  missionaries.  They 
must,  therefore,  be  early  taught  the  missionary 
function  of  the  church. 

In  Porto  Rico,  the  last  Sunday  of  each  quarter 
is  considered  missionary  day.  Missionary  in- 
struction is  given,  and  all  the  offerings  of  the 
Sunday  schools  and  local  churches,  on  that  day, 
are  devoted  to  missions.  As  a  result  of  these 
gifts,  six  substantial  chapels  have  been  erected  in 
needy  places. 

A  Church  Erection  Society  has  been  organized 
by  the  annual  conference  in  the  Philippines.  Of- 
ferings are  lifted  for  this  church-erection  fund. 
This  society  has  already  loaned  money  to  aid  in 
the  erection  of  three  permanent  chapels.  Offer- 
ings are  also  lifted  in  the  Philippines  for  the 
support  of  a  missionary  of  their  own  who  is 
laboring  among  the   Igorrotes. 

In  Africa,  great  strides  have  been  made  in 
missionary  giving  and  in  the  erection  of  new 
chapels,  from  funds  contributed  by  native  Chris- 
tians. Missionary  Day  has  become  a  great  occa- 
sion. The  native  churches  support  three  mis- 
sionaries of  their  own,  one  at  Pendembu,  one  at 
Yonnie  Banna,  and  one  at  Kangahu.  The  con- 
ference in  Africa  approved  the  following  as  an 
inspiring  goal  toward  which  the  native  churches 


no  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

are  working:  "When  a  church  has  become  fully 
self-supporting,  it  should  aim  to  give  as  much  for 
the  extension  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  other  parts  as 
it  pays  for  local  expenses  and  pastoral  support.'' 

Producing  a  Christian  Literature 

Ever  since  Martin  Luther  threw  a  bottle  of 
ink  at  the  devil,  printers'  ink  has  been  a  strong 
factor  in  combating  the  powers  of  darkness  and 
in  extending  Christianity  throughout  the  world. 

In  the  midst  of  such  an  abundant  supply  of 
Christian  periodicals,  tracts,  books,  and  maga- 
zines as  is  found  in  America,  it  is  difficult  to  even 
imagine  the  destitute  condition  in  our  foreign 
fields  and  the  hunger  of  the  native  pastors  and 
Christians  for  any  kind  of  Christian  literature. 

One  of  the  strongest  factors  in  our  work  abroad 
has  been  the  installation  of  printing  presses  and 
the  creation  of  a  vigorous  Christian  literature  in 
the  vernacular,  adapted  to  the  needs  of  each  field. 
A  good  supply  of  tracts,  Sunday-school  and 
Young  People's  society  helps  and  periodicals,  is 
now  coming  from  our  own  presses. 

In  Africa,  a  printing  plant  has  been  introduced 
as  a  department  of  training  in  the  Albert  Acad- 
emy, and  the  "Sierra  Leone  Outlook,"  a  strong 
Christian  periodical,  is  issued  monthly.  As  this 
is  the  only  religious  paper  in  Sierra  Leone,  it  is 
read  with  interest  and  profit  by  Christian  workers 
of  other  missions  as  well  as  of  our  own. 

The  United  Brethren  mission  in  Japan  is  giv- 
ing strong   support   to   the   Christian    Literature 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK         111 

Committee,  an  interdenominational  organization 
which  is  supplying  high-grade  tracts,  book- 
lets, and  other  publications  for  the  Japanese 
churches.  Dr.  Joseph  Cosand,  our  superintend- 
ent, has  recently  prepared  books  which  have 
greatly  enriched  the  literature  of  Japan. 

In  South  China,  a  strong,  interdenominational 
agency  has  been  formed  to  create  and  publish 
evangelical  literature  for  their  native  church. 

Great  Achievement  in  the  Philippines.  Our 
missionaries  in  the  Philippines  have  assisted  in 
the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Ilocano 
dialect  and  they  have  provided  a  high  type  of 
literature  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  native 
churches.  The  Methodist  mission  has  united  with 
us  in  the  production  and  circulation  of  an  excel- 
lent mission  paper,  the  "Naimbag  a  Damag."  By 
this  union  of  effort,  this  periodical  has  the  largest 
circulation  of  any  religious  paper  in  the  Philip- 
pines. 

An  evidence  of  the  growing  power  of  the 
native  leaders,  was  shown  recently  in  the  elec- 
tion of  Rev.  John  Abellera  as  editor  of  this 
excellent  paper.  Mr.  Abellera  was  the  first  of 
our  native  pastors  to  be  ordained.  He  is  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Union  Bible  Training  School  at  Ma- 
nila, and  has  had  wide  experience  g.s  teacher, 
pastor,  and  conference  evangelist.  He  thus  brings 
to  this  important  position  a  heart  and  mind  Avell 
trained  for  the  task. 

A  Union  Printing  Plant  for  Porto  Rico.  Mis- 
sionary workers  in  all  denominations  are  seeking 


112  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

to  form  a  strong  union  printing  establishment 
in  each  foreign  field.  Porto  Rico  has  worked 
out  a  good  example  of  what  can  be  done  in  form- 
ing such  a  union  movement. 

In  1912,  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
missions  entered  into  an  agreement  with  our 
workers  in  Porto  Rico  for  the  publication  of  a 
union  paper,  the  "Puerto  Rico  Evangelico."  The 
paper  was  printed  on  our  press  at  Ponce,  and 
Rev.  Philo  W.  Drury  was  the  editor  and  pub- 
lisher. This  union  effort  was  so  successful  that, 
in  July,  1915,  the  Baptists  and  Disciples,  and  in 
March,  1916,  the  Methodists,  united  with  the  mis- 
sions already  named,  to  make  this  paper  the  of- 
ficial organ  of  the  six  missions.  The  periodical 
has  been  increased  in  size  to  twenty  pages  in  ad- 
dition to  the  cover,  and  the  subscription  placed 
at  fifty  cents  per  annum.  The  circulation  of  this 
paper  has  already  advanced  to  nearly  five  thous- 
and copies.  A  native  leader  has  been  elected 
editor.  Rev.  Mr.  Drury  being  managing  editor. 

This  union  printing  plant  has  been  made  the 
depository  of  the  best  evangelical  books  and 
publications  prepared  in  other  Spanish-speaking 
countries,  and  the  American  Bible  Society  has 
placed  here  its  supply  of  Bibles  for  the  island. 

Porto  Rico  has  thus  perfected  a  union  move- 
ment of  vast  importance  for  the  enrichment  of  its 
native  churches,  which  serves  as  an  inspiring 
example  for  other  mission  fields. 


fe^  *:;^^*  X'\'lji^^^.  -.^i^^kl^mi 

*i     «  w 

Union  Printing  Plant  and  Bible  Depository,   Porto  Rico 


Editorial    Room    in    Our    Publishing    House,    Philippines 
Rev.  J.  A.  Abellera,  editor  of  the  union  i)aper  is  seen  at  the  desk   to  the  right 


The   Boys'    Grammar    School,    Canton,    China 


Our  Kindergarten,  Tokyo,  Japan 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK         115 

Training  Schools 

The  remarkable  awakening  in  non-Christian 
lands,  commands  the  church  to  produce  Christian 
leaders  who  will  have  the  character,  insight,  and 
training  necessary  to  pilot  the  native  churches 
through  the  new  opportunities  and  dangers  that 
confront  them. 

The  question  of  training  an  adequate  force  of 
native  pastors  to  meet  the  extraordinary  situa- 
tion, is  a  very  large  one.  It  is  impossible  for  the 
weak  native  churches  to  develop  strong  training 
institutions.  This  phase  of  mission  work,  there- 
fore, must  be  done  largely  by  the  home  churches 
through  the  mission  boards.  The  time  will  come 
when  the  native  Christians  will  have  sufficient 
resources  and  a  leadership  able  to  support  and 
direct  these  training  schools,  but  this  will  not 
take  place  for  many  years  to  come. 

In  addition  to  the  day  schools,  our  mission  in 
Africa  is  supporting  the  Rufus  Clark  and  Wife 
Training  School  at  Shenge,  and  a  boarding  school 
for  girls  at  Moyamba. 

Our  strongest  training  school  abroad  is  that  of 
the  Albert  Academy,  which  has  done  a  magnif- 
icent work  in  the  education  of  African  leaders. 
Able  native  instructors  are  doing  a  large  part  of 
the  work. 

In  China,  we  have,  in  addition  to  the  primary 
schools,  the  Boys'  Grammar  School,  and  the 
Miller  Seminary  for  girls  and  young  women.  Na- 
tive teachers  are  on  the  facultv  of  this  school. 


116  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

The  growing  Young  Women's  Bible  Training 
School  at  San  Fernando,  supplies  the  only  Chris- 
tian education  for  the  girls  of  our  entire  territory 
in  the  Philippines. 

These  schools  are  not  able  to  accommodate  the 
present  urgent  demands  for  training. 

Co-operation  in  Higher  Education.  There  is  no 
greater  need  abroad  than  that  of  better  equipped 
training  institutions.  To  provide  such  schools 
requires  large  sums  of  money;  hence,  the  mis- 
sionary leaders  of  all  the  communions  have  been 
driven  by  the  overwhelming  need  of  the  situation 
to  combine  their  efforts  in  the  support  of  strong, 
interdenominational  colleges  and  training  schools, 
rather  than  to  erect  at  great  expense  many  paral- 
lel and  necessarily  weak  denominational  institu- 
tions. 

The  United  Brethren  Church  has  taken  a 
strong  position  in  this  union  of  effort  for  higher 
education.  In  Japan,  we  have  been  co-operating 
with  the  Doshisha  University  by  supplying  a 
missionary  professor  and  by  supporting  a  Japan- 
ese teacher.  In  the  Philippine  Islands,  the  Pres- 
byterians, Methodists,  Baptists,  Disciples,  and 
United  Brethren  have  united  in  a  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Manila.  In  Porto  Rico,  the 
United  Brethren  and  Presbyterian  missions  have 
joined  in  a  training  school  for  native  workers  at 
Mayaguez ;  and  in  China,  we  are  co-operai:ing 
with  other  missions  in  a  union  theological  college 
at  Canton. 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK         117 

Co-operation  and  Unity 

Facing  the  great,  unoccupied  fields  all  about 
them  and  their  many  problems,  foreign  mission- 
ary workers  of  evangelical  churches  have  been 
driven  to  close  co-operation.  Their  plans  are 
being  correlated  and  their  forces  federated  with 
a  view  to  bringing  the  combined  strength  of  the 
churches  upon  their  tasks.  In  Japan,  great  strides 
have  been  made  in  the  union  of  native  churches. 

The  goal  toward  which  Christian  leaders  are 
working  in  the  Philippine  Islands  and  in  Porto 
Rico,  is  that  of  one  evangelical  native  church. 

Rev.  Mr.  Widdoes,  of  our  mission,  is  chairman 
of  an  interdenominational  committee  in  the  Phil- 
ippines which  is  working  out  a  comprehensive 
plan  for  one  aggressive  church. 

Mission  work  has  advanced  to  such  a  stage  in 
Porto  Rico  that  at  the  Regional  Conference  held 
in  March,  1916,  definite  plans  were  approved  look- 
ing toward  the  formation  of  one  evangelical 
church  for  the  island.  Mr.  Drury,  of  our  mis- 
sion, was  elected  secretary  of  this  union. 

The  various  missions  in  each  field  can  co-oper- 
ate effectively  with  such  a  church  which  will  thus 
become  ultimately  strong  enough  to  direct  and 
extend  its  own  work.  Our  missionaries  and  na- 
tive pastors  have  been  taking  a  prominent  part  in 
these  important  movements. 

Auxiliary  Agencies 
The  foreign  mission  enterprise  is  a  many-sided 
one.     Jesus  Christ  is  for  every  life  and  all  of  life. 


118  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

The  gospel  has  a  messag-e  for  the  body,  mind,  and 
soul.  In  addition  to  the  many  departments  of 
work  already  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  it  is 
necessary  to  promote  industrial,  philanthropic, 
and  medical  work  abroad.  In  many  of  our 
schools,  much  attention  is  given  to  manual  train- 
ing, and  in  Africa  practical  farming  is  a  feature 
of  industrial  instruction. 

A  Home  for  Outcast  Babies.  In  South  China, 
extreme  poverty  causes  thousands  of  parents  to 
cast  away  their  baby  girls.  These  would  perish 
unless  picked  up  by  Christian  workers.  The 
United  Brethren  mission  is  conducting  the 
Foundling  Home  for  the  care  of  these  cast-away 
children.  In  this  orphanage,  thirty-one  little 
lives  are  now  being  transformed.  This  home  for 
the  survival  of  the  unfittest  furnishes  an  object 
lesson  of  the  love,  sympathy,  and  helpfulness  of 
Christianity,  and  also  an  example  of  what  the 
Chinese  themselves  will  do  in  a  larger  way  in 
the  better  days  ahead. 

Power  of  Medical  Work.  To  describe  ade- 
quately the  great  work  of  our  medical  mission- 
aries, would  require  many  pages. 

When  our  dispensary  was  opened  at  Rotifunk, 
West  Africa,  in  1901,  only  two  hundred  different 
patients  were  treated  the  first  year.  Larger  num- 
bers kept  coming  from  all  sections  of  Sierra 
Leone.  Three  thousand  patients  were  treated 
annually,  then  five  thousand,  and  last  year  over 
eight  thousand  different  patients  received  help, 
and  their  voluntary  payments  for  medicine  more 


THE  NATIVE  CHURCH  AT  WORK         119 

than  met  the  entire  expense  for  salaries  of  work- 
ers and  the  upkeep  of  the  dispensary;  many  other 
patients  were  treated  at  sub-dispensaries.  It  is 
difificult  to  estimate  the  power  of  this  medical 
work  in  not  only  relieving  pain,  but  in  destroying 
faith  in  a  fetish  or  charm. 

In  China,  we  have  been  conducting  medical 
work  in  Siu  Lam,  where  a  new  hospital  is  now 
being  erected. 

The  influence  of  the  dispensary  at  Canton  has 
been  increasing  through  the  past  twenty  years. 
Since  the  great  flood  of  last  summer,  as  many 
as  three  hundred  and  fifty  persons  are  treated  on 
one  dispensary  day. 

The  evangelistic  opportunity  afforded  by  this 
medical  w^ork  is  boundless.  Native  pastors  and 
trained  Bible  women  assemble  the  waiting  pa- 
tients in  adjacent  rooms,  and  there  they  are 
taught  about  Christ,  the  great  Physician.  The 
message  of  God's  love  and  grace  is  g'iven  to  thirty 
thousand  different  persons  each  year  at  our  dis- 
pensaries. Many  of  them  travel  long  distances 
to  receive  treatment,  and  hear  for  the  first  time 
the  news  qf  a  Savior,  and  they  go  back  to  their 
own  villages  to  tell  of  the  things  they  have  seen 
and  heard.  The  door  is  thus  opened  in  new  dis- 
tricts and  towns  for  the  entrance  of  gospel  mes- 
sengers. 

A  Model  Pastor 

As  we  think  of  the  conditions  abroad  and  re- 
view the  wonderful  work  now  carried  on  by  the 


120  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

native  churches,  it  is  more  and  more  clear  that 
the  native  pastors  hold  a  position  of  greatest  im- 
portance in  non-Christian  lands. 

The  achievements  of  Rev.  R.  Coqkston  Taylor, 
who  served  for  twenty-one  years  as  an  efficient 
native  pastor  in  West  Africa,  illustrate  the 
power  and  possibilities  of  many  pastors  now  at 
work  in  our  foreign  fields. 

An  Evangelistic  Preacher  and  Christian  Stew- 
ard. Mr.  Taylor  was  a  strong  evangelistic 
preacher.  He  won  many  converts  to  Jesus  Christ. 
His  power  in  leading  native  Christians  to  honor 
the  Lord  with  their  substance  was  truly  remark- 
able. While  sympathizing  with  the  poverty  of 
the  people,  he  believed  that  they  would  be  poorer 
still  by  withholding  what  belonged  to  God.  With 
Mr.  Taylor,  raising  money  for  kingdom  extension 
was  as  much  a  religious  act  as  winning  souls  to 
Christ.  He  succeeded  in  enlisting  others  to  invest 
their  lives  and  money  in  the  cause  of  God  because 
he  himself  gave  all  his  strength  and  from  one- 
fourth  to  one-half  of  his  meager  salary  to  Chris- 
tian work. 

A  Great  Builder.  When  he  was  appointed  pas- 
tor at  Bonthe,  West  Africa,  there  was  need  of  a 
new  church  building.  Inspired  of  God,  he  set 
to  work  to  enlist  his  native  brethren  and  the 
whole  community  in  erecting  a  splendid  new 
church.  It  required  almost  eight  years  to  raise 
the  money,  gather  the  materials,  and  complete 
the  building,  which  is  regarded  the  best  church 
ever  erected  in  our  foreign  fields.     Nine-tenths 


THE  NATIVE   CHURCH   AT  WORK         121 

of  all  the  money  for  the  new  building  was  con- 
tributed by  the  native  Christians  and  their  friends 
in  Africa. 

When  broken  in  health  and  nearing  the  time 
of  his  departure,  Mr.  Taylor  requested  that  he  be 
•carried  back  into  the  house  of  God.  There  he 
sat,  looking  at  the  altar,  the  pulpit,  and  then  at 
the  communion  rail  where  he  had  received  the 
vows  of  new  converts  and  administered  the  Holy 
Sacraments.  Then,  after  prayer,  he  was  carried 
back  to  his  home,  and  a  little  later  was  received 
up  on  high. 

Estimate  of  a  Friend.  Concerning  this  servant 
of  God,  Dr.  John  R.  King,  who  knew  him  inti- 
mately for  many  years,  writes:  ''We  often  joined 
in  public  services  in  the  house  of  God,  and  I  had 
sweet  fellowship  with  him  in  his  own  home. 

"We  tramped  together*  on  long  itinerating 
marches  under  a  burning  sun,  and  through  Sher- 
bro  swamps.  We  sat  in  council  over  financial 
problems  far  into  the  night. 

"He  was  a  strong  preacher  and  always  preached 
with  a  purpose.  Wherever  he  labored,  his  min- 
istry was  fruitful  in  converts.  Once  I  counseled 
with  him  concerning  the  employment  of  another 
worker.  When  I  remarked,  'He  is  a  gifted 
speaker,'  Mr.  Taylor  replied,  'Yes,  but  his  preach- 
ing is  not  of  the  character  that  would  convert  a 
soul.' 

"I  shall  cherish  as  long  as  I  live  the  memories 
of  this  good  man,  and  I  entertain  the  hope  that 


122  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

they  will  heighten  the  joys  of  the  'communion  of 
saints'  in  heaven." 

A  beautiful  tablet  on  the  interior  walls  of  the 
Bonthe  church  contains  the  following: 

IN     MEMORY    OF    R.    COOKSTON    TAYLOR 

BORN    MAY    19,    1859.      DIED   JULY   4,    1906. 

FOR    MORE    THAN    TWENTY-ONE    YEARS    HE    WAS    AN    HONORED 

MINISTER    OF    THE    UNITED    BRETHREN    CHURCH.      DURING    HIS    NINE 

YEARS'    PASTORATE    AT    BONTHE    HE    ERECTED    THIS    CHURCH    WHICH 

STANDS    AS    A    MONUMENT    TO    HIS    INDOMITABLE    COURAGE. 

SUBLIME    FAITH.    UNFALTERING    INDUSTRY    AND 

SELF-SACRIFICING    DEVOTION. 

HE    RESTS    FROM    HIS    LABORS 

BUT    HIS    WORKS    DO    FOLLOW    HIM. 


V 

JOINING  HANDS  WITH  OUR  CHURCH 
ABROAD 

God  is  leading  American  Christians  into  en- 
thusiastic co-operation  with  the  missionaries  and 
native  churches  abroad.  Christian  leaders  are 
discovering  that  when  a  local  church  is  willing 
to  instruct  its  members,  organize  its  forces,  and 
actually  attempt  to  obey  the  great  commission  to 
"preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,"  it  can  rely 
absolutely  on  God's  promise,  "Behold,  I  have  set 
before  thee  a  door  opened,  which  none  can  shut." 

A  Threefold  Vision  Necessary 
For  a  church  to  reach  its  maximum  power, 
three  conditions  must  be  fulfilled :  It  must  have  a 
vision  of  the  living  Christ ;  it  must  have  a  vision 
of  its  responsibility  in  behalf  of  the  millions  still 
without  Christ ;  and  it  must  have  a  vision  of  the 
boundless  possibilities  of  a  church  obedient  to 
Christ. 

First:  A  Vision  of  the  Living  Christ.  Many 
churches  have  not  yet  discovered  the  living,  con- 
quering Christ,  who  said,  "Behold,  I  am  alive 
forevermore" ;  "All  authority  hath  been  given 
unto  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye  .  .  ." 
Missions  did  not  originate  with  man.  Christ  him- 
self is  the  authority  for  the  program  to  evangelize 


124  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

the  world.  ''Ye  shall  be  my  witnesses  both  in 
Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea  and  Samaria,  and 
unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth." 

Christ  is  now  living  and  directing  this  greatest 
enterprise  in  the  universe.  His  eyes  are  upon  the 
church,  his  only  agency.  He  expects  every  mem- 
ber to  be  a  co-worker  with  himself. 

When  Paul  discovered  his  resources  in  Christ, 
he  exclaimed,  ''I  can  do  all  things  in  him  that 
strengtheneth  me." 

It  was  the  vision  of  the  larger  Christ  that  drove 
Livingstone  into  the  heart  of  Africa  and  moved 
Morrison  to  say  he  was  ready  to  go  "where  the 
difficulties  were  the  greatest  and  to  all  human 
appearances  the  most  insuperable." 

This  omnipotent  Christ,  who  so  lovingly  calls 
men  to  accept  him  as  Savior,  with  all  authority 
commands  the  saved  one  to  be  a  witness  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth.  He  saves  us  that  we  may  be 
enlisted  in  service.  His  resources  are  promised 
only  to  those  who  obey  him. 

Second:  A  Vision  of  the  Church's  Responsi- 
bility for  the  Waiting  Multitudes.  The  claims  of 
the  Christless  peoples  of  the  earth  must  be 
brought,  in  a  sympathetic,  living  way,  to  the  indi- 
vidual members  of  the  local  churches.  They  must 
see  the  vast  multitudes  in  Africa,  China,  and  the 
islands  of  the  sea,  as  Christ  sees  them — torn  and 
prostrate,  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

The  Protestant  churches  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada  have  assumed  six  hundred  millions 
in   non-Christian   lands  as   their  share  for  evan- 


JOININCx  HANDS  ABROAD  125 

gelization.  The  United  Brethren  Church,  by  ac- 
tion of  the  General  Conference,  has  taken  five 
millions  abroad  as  its  minimum  share  to  evan- 
gelize. On  an  average,  every  local  church  of  one 
hundred  members  in  our  denomination,  is  thus 
responsible  for  the  giving  of  the  gospel  to  one 
thousand  four  hundred  souls  now  in  darkness. 

A  pastor,  who  has  led  his  church  to  great 
achievements,  says  :  "I  believe  that  God  designed 
to  lay  the  burden  of  the  whole  world  upon  every 
church,  that  every  church  might  thus  find  out 
that  it  has  a  whole  Christ  with  whom  to  bear  that 
burden." 

In  order  to  bring  the  vision  of  the  urgent  needs 
abroad  to  our  whole  church  membership,  it  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  that  active  agencies  be 
formed  for  missionary  instruction  and  training  in 
every  Young  People's  Society,  Sunday  School, 
Woman s  Missionary  Association,  and  in  the  entire 
local  church. 

Every  Christian  must  be  an  advocate,  and 
should  constantly  pass  missionary  messages  on 
to  others  until  the  whole  congregation  is  in- 
formed and  inspired. 

Third:  A  Vision  of  the  Possibilities  of  An 
Obedient  Church.  The  surest  way  to  develop 
a  local  church  is  to  enlist  its  members  to  do  their 
utmost  for  missions. 

Dr.  Samuel  Miller,  who  did  so  much  to  put  the 
missionary  atmosphere  in  Princeton  University, 
says:  "If  I  were  asked  how  a  church  would  be 
most  likely  to  rise  and  grow,  I  would  say  w^ith 


126  OUR   CHURCH  ABROAD 

confidence,  let  it  begin  in  good  earnest  to  pray 
and  exert  itself  for  the  sending  of  the  gospel  to 
the  benighted  and  perishing.  However  small  its 
strength,  let  it  arouse  that  little  and  engage  in 
fervent  prayer  with  heart-felt  love  for  souls, 
and  contribute  to  the  Lord's  treasury,  and  the 
very  efifort  will  tend  to  enlarge  and  build  it  up." 

God  has  given  us  the  vision  of  our  resources 
in  Christ  and  the  knowledge  of  the  multitudes 
abroad  without  the  gospel,  that  our  churches  may 
be  led  to  consecrate  their  talents  and  their  pos- 
sessions to  him  for  the  uplift  of  mankind.  Every 
minister  and  local  leader  owes  it  to  his  risen 
Lord,  to  the  heathen  world,  and  to  his  own 
church,  to  be  as  thoroughly  conquered  by  the 
self-sacrificing,  compassionate  spirit  of  Christ, 
which  is  the  spirit  of  missions,  as  those  who  go 
out  as  missionaries. 

Hundreds  of  pastors  are  entering  into  the  joy 
described  by  Andrew  Fuller,  the  great  pioneer  of 
the  Baptist  Church  : 

"There  was  a  period  of  my  ministry,"  says  JVir. 
Fuller,  ''marked  by  the  most  systematic  effort  to 
comfort  my  serious  people  ;  but  the  more  I  tried 
to  comfort  them,  the  more  they  complained  of 
doubts  and  darkness.  I  knew  not  what  to  do,  nor 
what  to  say.  At  this  time,  it  pleased  God  to 
direct  my  attention  to  the  claims  of  the  perishing 
heathen.  I  felt  that  we  had  been  living  for  our- 
selves and  not  caring  for  their  souls.  I  spoke  as 
I  felt.  My  serious  people  wondered  and  wept. 
They  began  to  talk  about  a  Baptist  mission.    We 


JOINING  HANDS  ABROAD  127 

met  and  prayed  for  the  heathen ;  met  to  consider 
what  could  be  done  among  ourselves  for  them  ; 
met  and  did  what  we  could ;  and  whilst  all  of  this 
w^as  going  on,  the  lamentations  ceased,  and  I,  in- 
stead of  having  to  study  how  to  comfort  my  flock, 
was  myself  comforted  by  them.  They  w^ere  drawn 
out  of  themselves ;  that  was  the  real  secret.  God 
blessed  them  while  they  tried  to  be  a  blessing." 
Antioch  a  Model  Church 

The  church  at  Antioch  has  been  regarded  as 
a  model  church.  There  was  a  great  difference 
between  the  church  at  Jerusalem  and  the  one  at 
/Vntioch.  The  Jerusalem  church  was  narrow  and 
prejudiced,  composed  chiefly  of  Jewish  converts, 
who  had  never  risen  to  the  conviction  that  Chris- 
tianity was  a  world-conquering  religion. 

But  the  church  at  Antioch,  which  was  com- 
posed largely  of  Gentiles  who  had  come  out  of 
the  degradation  and  superstition  of  old,  idolatrous 
religions,  w^as  the  first  to  obey  the  command  of 
Christ  to  witness  to  all  the  world.  Antioch  gave 
Christendom  tzco  important  things,  the  Christimi 
name  and  Christian  missions. 

^Vhile  this  church  was  fasting  and  praying,  the 
Holy  Ghost  called  Paul  and  Barnabas  for  mis- 
sionary work. 

'T  am  confident,"  says  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Taylor,  "that 
no  day  of  more  sacred  joy  had  as  yet  dawned 
upon  the  church  at  Antioch  than  that  upon  which 
Barnabas  and  Paul  were  sent  out  to  preach  the 
gospel.  Here,  then,  is  something  new  under  the 
sun.    Nothing  like  this  had  ever  been  done  by  the 


128  OUR  CHURCH   ABROAD 

Jews ;  nothing  like  it  had  been  seen  among  the 
Greeks  and  Romans.  Never  had  any  nation  among 
them  concerned  itself  with  the  spiritual  condition 
of  another.  Not  until  this  vessel  left  the  harbor 
of  Seleucia  had  there  been  any  organized  effort  of 
any  kind  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  a  new  and 
beneficent  religion  upon  another  race  than  their 
own.  And  when  these  brethren  did  go  forth, 
they  went  not  with  earthly  weapons,  or  protected 
by  the  edict  of  an  emperor,  but  carrying  only  the 
truth  and  eager  to  tell  the  wondrous  story  of 
redeeming  love.  It  was  an  undertaking  as  heroic 
as  it  was  novel ;  and  it  was  at  once  the  fruit  of 
that  grander  mission  on  which  the  Lord  himself 
had  come  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  the  evidence 
of  its  reality  and  power." 

Who  can  doubt  that  the  members  of  the  church 
of  Antioch  followed  these  missionaries  whom 
they  sent  forth,  with  increasing  interest,  fervent 
prayer,  and  hearty  support? 

After  the  remarkable  experiences  of  their  first 
missionary  journey,  Paul  and  Barnabas  returned 
to  their  home  church,  and  rehearsed  ''all  things 
that  God  had  done  with  them,  and  how  that  he 
had  opened  a  door  of  faith  unto  the  Gentiles." 
Surely,  the  missionary  interest  in  that  first  Gen- 
tile church  must  then  have  been  intense  ! 

The  church  at  Antioch  was  wonderfully  blest 
of  God  and  became  one  of  the  .great  churches 
throughout  the  centuries.  When  Chrysostom 
was  the  pastor,  some  three  hundred  years  after 
the  founding  of  the  church,  the  city  had  a  popula- 


JOIXIXG  HANDS  ABROAD  129 

tion  of  two  hundred  thousand,  one  hundred  thou- 
sand of  whom  were  professing  Christians.  Thus 
the  church  at  Antioch  was  a  mighty  evangelistic 
force  in  its  own  city,  while  it  sent  forth  mission- 
aries to  distant  parts. 

Rising  Tide  of  Missionary  Interest 
There  is  a  growing  hunger  among  the  churches 
of  our  denominations  for  missionary  facts  and  an 
increasing  desire  to  do  the  full  will  of  God.  Mis- 
sionary instruction  has  become  an  essential  part 
in  Christian  training  in  every  live  Young  People's 
society  and  Sunday  school.  In  addition  to  mis- 
sionary instruction  in  these  departments  of  the 
church,  Christian  leaders  recognize  the  impor- 
tance of  forming  mission-study  groups  for  the  en- 
tire local  church. 

An  Entire  Church  Studying  Missions.  With  a 
view  to  getting  the  entire  congregation  at  Ann- 
ville,  Pennsylvania,  to  investigate  our  foreign 
missionary  work,  a  committee  of  five  canvassed 
the  entire  membership  and  placed  one  copy  of 
"Our  Church  Abroad"  in  every  home.  Twelve 
groups  Avere  then  formed  for  its  investigation. 
Over  three  hundred  persons  took  part  in  the 
group  study.  Men  who  were  never  before  known 
to  talk  missions,  began  to  inquire,  "What  can  we 
do  to  meet  this  need?" 

A  combined,  culminating  meeting  was  held  in 
the  church.  The  interest  was  so  great  that  a 
proposition  was  submitted,  and  after  brief  discus- 
sion, unanimously  adoi)te(l,  that  the  congregation 


130  OUR  CHURCH  ABROAD 

support  Dr.  Regina  Bigler,  of  China,  as  its  rep- 
resentative. As  a  great  climax,  one  of  the  mem- 
bers quietly  informed  the  pastor  that  he  and  his 
wife  would  give  five  thousand  dollars  for  a  new 
dispensary  building  for  Doctor  Bigler. 

The  pastor.  Dr.  S.  F.  Daugherty,  then  wrote, 
"I  have  had  many  great  days  and  blessed  experi- 
ences and  triumphant  victories,  but  that  culmi- 
nating meeting,  April  9,  1916,  was  decidedly  the 
best  in  my  whole  life.  It  has  opened  my  eyes 
anew  to  the  fact  thai  when  our  people  know, 
they  will  do." 

Systematic  Giving  to  Missions.  Possibly  no 
local  church  in  our  communion  furnishes  a  better 
example  in  systematic  giving  to  missions  and 
other  benevolences  than  does  the  First  United 
Brethren  Church  at  Barberton,  Ohio.  Through 
the  long  pastorate  of  the  late  Rev.  U.  M.  Roby, 
this  congregation  became  one  of  the  best  organ- 
ized, best  informed,  and  most  vitally  active 
churches  in  the  denomination.  Rev.  Mr.  Roby 
directed  his  work  on  the  principle  that  "it  is  bet- 
ter to  put  ten  men  to  work  than  to  do  the  work  of 
ten  men."  He  recognized  the  fact  that  the  range 
is  too  great  to  depend  entirely  on  the  pulpit  for 
the  instruction  necessary  to  develop  a  strong 
missionary  church.  Accordingly,  he  formed  mis- 
sion-study groups  and  classes  for  instruction  in 
Christian  stewardship  and  in  soul-winning.  Mr. 
Roby  did  his  best  work  to  vitalize  'and  direct  the 
local  church  by  teaching  and  training  the  local 
leaders  of  his  church. 


r  C 
ni  O 
ft    2 


<  3 


A    Congregation   in   the    Philippines,    One    Year    Old 
Many  such  need  help  to  build  adeqviate  chapels 


United  Brethren  Chapel,   Cava,  P.  I. 

Gifts    from    the    members    of   the    Otterbein  Charge,  East  Ohio  Conference,  made 
possible  this  chapel 


JOINING  HANDS  ABROAD  133 

Before  the  every-member  canvass  was  made  for 
gifts  to  missions  and  other  benevolences,  a  most 
thorough,  interest-creating,  educational  campaign 
was  always  conducted,  and  the  response  from  the 
congregation  from  year  to  year  was  increasingly 
great.  \Mien  the  United  Benevolent  Plan  was 
adopted  by  the  General  Conference,  this  congre- 
gation assumed  voluntarily  a  larger  apportion- 
ment for  the  general  benevolences  than  the  con- 
ference committee  assigned  them.  Though  the 
membership  w^as  large,  they  raised  annually  over 
three  dollars  per  member  for  benevolences. 

The  secret  of  the  powder  of  the  Barberton 
church  can  be  traced  to  the  superi(^r  leadership  of 
the  pastor.  He  brought  to  the  church  messages  on 
the  living  movements  of  the  kingdom,  and  thus 
delivered  them  from  provincialism ;  he  set  before 
the  congregation  definite  tasks  large  enough  to 
call  out  their  utmost  endeavors ;  and  he  had  the 
wisdom  and  courage  to  lead  his  forces  to  do  heroic 
things. 

"We  make  a  mistake,"  says  Mr.  Roby,  "when 
w^e  fail  to  bring  to  our  people  the  challenge  of  the 
difficult.  A\'e  have  dishonored  our  men  by  putting 
too  much  emphasis  upon  our  penny  collections 
and  insignificant  tasks  to  which  we  have  called 
them.  Many  of  our  people  can  and  will  give  from 
one  hundred  dollars  to  five  hundred  dollars  annu- 
ally to  the  cause  of  missions  when  they  see  its 
real  significance.  Hundreds  and  thousands  of 
others  will  be  glad  to  bring  their  fifty  cents  a 
week  and  a  dollar  a  week  for  the  great  w^ork.     If 


134  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

we  can  give  our  men  men's  work  to  do,  we  shall 
not  find  them  wanting." 

Our  Greatest  Needs 

After  a  visit  to  all  our  fields  abroad,  during 
which  I  had  but  a  glimpse,  as  it  were,  of  the  vast 
multitudes,  hungry,  restless,  and  utterly  hopeless  ; 
after  associating  with  the  missionaries  and  native 
leaders  at  their  lonely  stations,  many  of  whom 
are  far  removed  from  any  Christian  associations 
and  almost  overwhelmed  by  pagan  darkness  ;  after 
being  permitted  to  look  into  the  deepest  longings 
of  their  hearts  and  to  know  something  of  their 
superhuman  problems ;  after  seeing  the  infant 
churches"  rising  above  their  stupendous  difficul- 
ties ;  and  after  viewing  the  vast  fields  as  yet  un- 
touched by  Christian  workers,  I  came  home  with 
two  overwhelming  convictions : 

First:  The  absolute  necessity  of  equipping 
what  we  have  already  started  and  of  enlarging 
the  work.  Scores  of  native  churches  are  worship- 
ping in  mere  shacks,  utterly  unfit  for  church  pur- 
poses. The  type  and  character  of  the  native 
churches  are  being  established.  It  is  absolutely 
impossible  for  them  to  be  properly  taught  and 
trained  without  church  buildings.  Native  Chris- 
tians, whose  wages  range  from  but  nine  to  twenty- 
five  cents  a  day,  have  brought  their  churches  to 
partial,  and  some  to  full,  self-support,  and  they 
are  doing  all  they  can  to  provide  land  and  ma- 
terials for  their  church  homes.  They  need  at  this 
time  assistance  from  America  to  erect  church 
buildings   in   places   ranging   in  population   from 


JOINING  HANDS  ABROAD  135 

four  thousand  to  four  hundred  thousand,  in  nearly 
all  of  which  ours  is  the  only  church,  and  through 
our  effort  alone  will'  Christ  be  known. 

It  is  necessary  that  we  provide  also,  training- 
school  buildings,  a  dispensary,  a  hospital,  and 
missionary  residences. 

Our  missionaries  represent  the  best  men  and 
women  our  colleges  and  churches  can  produce. 
They  are  willing  to  suffer  any  sacrifice  or  any  pri- 
vation, and  are  only  ambitious  to  work  at  their 
highest  point  of  efficiency.  Crowded  into  cramped, 
unsanitary  quarters,  some  of  our  most  efficient 
workers  have  broken  in  health  just  when  they 
were  ready  for  effective  service,  and  others  can- 
not be  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  efficient  with  such 
surroundings.  There  is  unspeakable  need  of  airy, 
sanitary  houses,  with  proper  surroundings,  for 
our  missionaries,  to  say  nothing  of  what  is  due 
their  little  children. 

Coupled  with  this   equipment  is  the   need  for 
extending  the  work.     We  must  have  additional 
missionaries  and  a  much  larger  force  of  native 
workers  in  order  that  we  may  speedily  give  gos- 
pel  privileges   to   the   two   million   five   hundred 
thousand  in  our  own  fields  yet  untouched. 
*T  hear  the  voice 
Of  One  who  calleth, 
Calleth  sweet  and  clear 
For  me  to  reap  for  him 
A  harvest  white. 
Oh,  soul  of  mine,  rise  up  and  answer  him 
Before  the  night, 


136  (3UR   CHURCH  ABROAD 

The  long  night  falleth, 
And  the  day  be  gone,  thy  day  be  gone." 

After  the  investigations  abroad,  my  second  con- 
viction is:  That  the  greatest  need  is  that  of  fer- 
vent intercession. 

Great  as  is  the  need  for  more  workers  at  this 
time,  when  each  missionary  on  the  field  is  forced 
to  bear  a  double  responsibility,  pressing  as  is  the 
need  for  funds  to  adequately  equip  and  extend 
the  work  abroad  in  this  hour  of  wonderful  open- 
ness and  opportunity,  yea,  far  greater  than  these  is 
the  call  for  intercession. 

It  is  a  call  to  churches;  it  is  a  call  to  individual 
men  and  women  who  will  see  in  it  their  greatest 
opportunity  for  service,  and  who  will,  after  ascer- 
taining the  needs,  give  themselves  to  the  winning 
of  victories  by  way  of  the  throne.  Only  through 
united,  fervent,  prevailing  intercession  for  our 
workers  abroad  and  the  infant  churches,  will  they 
be  baptized  with  power  from  on  high.  In  no 
other  way  will  the  powers  of  darkness  be  driven 
back  and  the  work  be  made  gloriously  trium- 
phant. The  missionaries  and  native  leaders  who 
have  had  the  constant  intercessions  of  a  group 
of  individuals  or  of  some  church  at  home,  are  the 
ones  through  whom  God  has  been  winning  the 
greatest  victories. 

Intercessory  Limng-Link   Churches 
No  greater  joy  or  keener  sense  of  partnership 
can  come  to  a  local  church  than  in  the  selection 
of  some  representative  abroad,  whose  work  shall 


JOINING  HANDS  ABROAD  137 

be  their  work,  and  who  will  continuously  support 
their  substitute  at  the  front  by  definite  prayer  and 
by  sacrificial  giving.  With  the  church  and  mis- 
sionary thus  linked,  they  together  share  the  bur- 
dens ;  together  they  share  the  victories  and  the 
joys.  It  strengthens  the  missionary  to  know  he 
has  back  of  him  a  sympathetic,  prayerful  church. 
For  the  local  church,  this  definite  work  forms  a 
basis  for  the  study  of  missions,  for  prayer,  and 
for  the  broadening  outlook  on  the  work  of  the 
kingdom. 

Ithaca  Circuit  Supports  a  Representative 
Abroad.  This  is  a  day  when  the  country  church 
is  coming  to  the  front.  These  churches  well 
deserve  the  increased  interest  awakened  in  their 
behalf.  The  next  decade  will  witness  great  for- 
ward strides  by  our  country  churches. 

The  Ithaca  Circuit  in  the  Miami  Conference, 
consisting  of  three  appointments,  has  ventured 
large  things  for  the  kingdom  by  undertaking  to 
intercede  for  and  to  support  a  representative  of 
their  own  abroad.  Rev.  M.  I.  Comfort,  the  pastor 
of  this  charge,  has  been  creating  a  missionary 
atmosphere  in  the  churches  and  Sunday  schools 
of  this  circuit.  There  developed  a  growing  desire 
on  the  part  of  the  members  to  do  something 
larger  than  they  had  yet  attempted. 

In  October,  1915,  the  leaders  of  this  country 
circuit  conferred  with  a  view  to  supporting  a 
representative  of  their  own  abroad,  in  addition  to 
a  full  benevolence  budget.  The  matter  was  pre- 
sented to  each  local  church.     All  were  asked  to 


138  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

think  and  pray  about  it.  It  was  agreed  that  the 
Sunday  schools  should  be  enlisted.  The  needs  of 
the  work  abroad,  and  the  specific  work  of  their 
substitute  at  the  front,  were  presented  in  a  strong 
way  to  each  Sunday  school.  One  class  took  the 
support  of  their  representative  ten  days ;  another 
thirty  days ;  and  individuals  took  from  one  to 
seven  days ;  two  families  each  took  the  support 
for  one  month. 

Voluntarily  and  with  great  enthusiasm,  this 
country  charge  has  entered  into  this  joyful  part- 
nership with  the  church  abroad. 

Great  Work  of  Church  and  Sunday  School  at 
LaCro'Sse,  Kansas.  The  church  and  Sunday  school 
at  LaCrosse,  Kansas,  has  taken  an  entire  mission- 
ary family  into  their  hearts.  During  the  past 
decade,  the  Sunday  school  of  this  church  paid 
one  hundred  and  forty  dollars  annually  for  the 
support  of  the  work  at  Sabanetas,  Porto  Rico. 
The  young  men  and  young  women  of  the  church 
and  Sunday  school  have  had  not  only  good  mis- 
sionary instruction,  but  excellent  training  in  giv- 
ing. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  leaders 
of  the  church  at  LaCrosse  were  convinced  that 
the  time  had  arrived  for  them  to  do  something 
adequate  to  meet  the  great  opportunities  now 
open  in  our  foreign  fields.  They  requested  the 
privilege  of  supporting  a  missionary  family  at  one 
thousand  dollars  in  addition  to  the  regular  benev- 
olence apportionment. 


JOINING  HANDS  ABROAD  139 

In  order  to  get  the  matter  started,  the  Sunday- 
"school  superintendent,  Mr.  James  H.  Little,  who 
was  to  lead  the  mid-week  prayer  meeting,  an- 
nounced that,  if  the  people  would  come  out,  they 
would  hear  something  unusual  and  have  an  oppor- 
tunity presented  to  them  in  which  they  would  be 
interested.  What  it  was,  none  of  them  knew. 
The  room  was  filled.  After  a  short  opening  ser- 
vice, the  people  were  shown  our  mission  fields, 
the  area  and  population  of  places  where  there  is 
not  a  single  missionary  at  work.  They  were 
shown  how  large  a  field  most  of  our  missionaries 
have  and  the  number  of  people  they  reach ;  also 
what  other  churches  and  Sunday  schools  are 
doing  for  missions,  and  the  present  urgent  need 
for  workers  and  more  money. 

All  present  were  then  asked  to  express  them- 
selves on  whether  they  were  willing  to  take  hold 
and  lift.  Quite  a  number  were  in  favor  of  taking 
some  definite  part  in  the  work.  After  prayer,  the 
superintendent  was  instructed  to  bring  the  matter 
before  the  Sunday  school. 

At  the  close  of  the  lesson,  the  proposition  was 
presented  to  the  church  and  Sunday  school,  and 
by  the  consent  of  the  pastor,  nearly  all  the  time 
allotted  to  the  preaching  service  was  given  to  a 
full  discussion  of  what  it  means  to  support  a 
missionary.  Questions  showing  an  intelligent 
interest  were  asked  and  answered.  When  the 
vote  was  taken,  all  but  one  voted  in  favor  of 
undertaking  the  support  of  a  missionary  family. 
Pledge  cards  were  distributed  and  all  were  asked 


140  OUR   CHURCH  ABROAD 

to  meditate  and  pray  over  the  matter  for  one 
week  before  deciding  what  they  would  do.  But 
the  interest  already  aroused  was  so  great  that  one 
class  pledged  immediately  fifty  dollars  and  an- 
other one  hundred  dollars.  Great  enthusiasm  pre- 
vailed when  the  pledges  were  lifted  and  counted 
on  the  following  Sunday.  The  next  day,  the  fol- 
lowing telegram  was  received  by  the  Secretary  in 
Dayton,  which  tells  the  story:  "Prayers  anszvered. 
LaCrosse  church  and  Sunday  school  pledge  one 
thousand  dollars  for  the  support  of  Rev.  IV.  H. 
Widdoes  and  family  in  the  Philippines.'' 

The  superintendent  of  the  school  then  wrote : 
*'Our  hearts  were  full  to  overflowing  to  our 
Father  for  opening  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the 
people,  and  their  pocketbooks  as  well,  and  we 
had  to  sing,  'Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings 
flow.'  " 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
members  of  the  LaCrosse  church  lost  their  entire 
wdieat  crop  during  the  summer  that  followed, 
through  a  hail  storm,  the  pledges  were  paid 
promptly  and  the  full  thousand  dollars  in  cash 
were  received  before  the  year  closed. 

"As  to  the  situation  now  at  the  end  of  the 
year,"  w^rites  Mr.  Little,  "every  obligation  of  the 
church  has  been  paid  in  full,  including  the  entire 
budget,  and  there  is  enough  money  in  the  treas- 
ury to  refurnish  the  entire  inside  of  the  church 
and  make  needed  improvements.  The  people  were 
never  so  thoroughly  united  for  service  as  right 
now.    Our  experience  is  that  the  Lord  never  goes 


JOIXIXG  HANDS  ABROAD  HI 

back  on  the  man  or  church  that  honors  him  in 
giving-.  'So  shall  thy  barns  be  filled,'  and  not 
only  the  barns,  but  ourselves  will  be  filled  with 
the  blessings  that  can  come  only  through  con- 
secrated, systematic  giving.  The  more  we  give 
for  the  other  fellow,  the  more  we  have  for  our- 
selves ;  but  this  is  not  the  reason  why  we  give ; 
we  give  for  the  joy  of  giving — it  is  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive. 

"The  Lord  has  been  good  in  showing  us  the 
need  and  helping  us  to  realize  that  this  is  our 
opportunity.  //  we  can  keep  the  young  folks  in- 
terested in  the  zi'ork  as  they  are  nozu,  it  zvill  mean 
much  for  the  church  of  the  next  generation.  If  the 
church  only  could  be  awakened  and  be  led  to 
understand  that  it  is  not  so  much  the  money 
right  now,  though  that  is  sorely  needed,  but  it  is 
the  education  given  to  the  young  people  in  Chris- 
tian sacrifice  and  giving,  that  will  amount  to  so 
much  more  in  the  years  to  come." 

The  influence  of  the  prayers  and  eft'orts  of  this 
little  church  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  members, 
has  been  felt  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe.  In 
the  Philippines,  Rev.  Mr.  Widdoes  says  they 
never  before  had  such  power. 

Congregations  in  other  sections  of  our  Church 
are  taking  up  the  support  of  individual  mission- 
aries. 


142  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

Laymen  Consecrating  Their  Talents  and  Their 
Money 

Christian  laymen  are  now  studying  as  never 
before  the  needs  of  the  whole  world,  and  they  are 
giving  their  business  ability,  their  time,  and 
money  to  make  Christ  known  everywhere.  For- 
eign missions  furnishes  an  objective  big  enough 
to  call  out  the  best  endeavors  of  Christian  lay- 
men ;  it  delivers  from  provincialism,  and  it  devel- 
ops faith  and  stalwart  Christian  character.  Lay- 
men at  their  own  expense  have  gone  to  the  mis- 
sion fields  and  have  studied  the  conditions  and 
needs  personally.  These,  in  addition  to  giving 
large  sums  of  money,  are  strong  advocates  of  the 
cause.  In  scores  of  churches,  through  the  leader- 
ship of  laymen,  complete  transformations  are 
taking  place. 

A  business  man  and  his  wife  in  eastern  Penn- 
sylvania had  planned  to  refurnish  their  living 
room ;  but  when  they  heard  the  call  for  funds  to 
send  out  delayed  missionaries,  they  counseled  and 
prayed  about  the  matter,  and  decided  to  do  with- 
out the  new  furniture  for  their  home,  and  to  give 
five  hundred  dollars  for  the  support  of  their  own 
representative  abroad.  Laymen  in  other  parts 
of  the  church  are  also  supporting  substitutes  at 
the  front. 

On  January  1,  1916,  the  following  message  was 
received  at  the  Foreign  Mission  Rooms,  from  a 
grandson  of  Dr.  D.  C.  Kumler,  one  of  our  first 
foreign  missionaries :  "In  extending  to  you  my 
New  Year's  greeting,  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  en- 


JOINING  HANDS  ABROAD  143 

close  a  check,  the  balance  of  the  thousand  dol- 
lars toward  a  new  church  or  missionary  residence 
abroad.  It  represents  real  sacrifice — no  vacation 
for  several  years,  and  the  doing  without  many 
thing-s  I  have  wanted  for  myself  or  family;  but 
I  am  grateful  for  the  opportunity  to  give." 

The  Missionary  Prospect 

Notwithstanding  the  disastrous  European  war, 
the  outlook  for  Christ's  world  kingdom  was  never 
brighter  than  now.  In  our  own  fields  across  the 
seas,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  we  are  on  the 
eve  of  a  great  ingathering  of  souls.  The  native 
pastors  are  rising  to  the  place  of  aggressive  lead- 
ership. The  spiritual  life  of  our  growing  native 
churches  is  deepening,  and  they  are  marshalling 
their  forces  for  larger  conquests. 

Viewing  the  whole  non-Christian  world,  it  can 
be  truthfully  said,  that  the  next  ten  years  will 
doubtless  witness  the  most  glorious  victories  for 
the  kingdom  that  have  ever  taken  place. 

A  double  responsibility  now  comes  to  America 
since  the  Christian  forces  of  Europe  and  Great 
Britain  have  been  so  greatly  reduced  by  the  war. 
God  has  given  us  our  great  material  resources 
and  our  large  number  of  trained,  consecrated. 
Christian  young  men  and  women  to  meet  the 
unparalleled  needs  abroad  at  this  time. 

In  the  face  of  such  opportunities,  shall  we  not 
all  pause  and  ask  our  hearts  the  searching  ques- 
tions given  by  J.  Campbell  White : 


144  OUR   CHURCH   ABROAD 

''Hoiv  long  zvoiild  it  take  to  plant  the  church  of 
Christ  in  every  community  of  the  zvorld  and  make 
disciples  of  all  the  nations,  if  all  other  Christians 
ivere  to  give  this  great  program  of  Christ  the  place 
in  their  lives  that  it  has  in  mine?" 

"Have  I  any  moral  right  to  expect  or  to  demand 
of  other  Christians,  even  preachers  and  mission- 
aries, any  service  or  sacrifice  for  Christ  that  I  am 
not  -ci'illing  to  give  or  make  myself  T' 

The  great  mission  work  performed  by  Ger- 
many, Holland,  and  England  in  behalf  of 
America  two  centuries  ago ;  the  self-sacrificing 
labors  of  the  early  missionaries  in  the  United 
States,  which  made  possible  our  great  Christian 
churches ;  and  the  heroic  work  of  the  foreign 
missionaries  in  preparing  the  way  in  the  fields 
abroad  for  the  present  victorious  native  churches 
— all  of  these  combine  to  challenge  us  to  meet  our 
opportunities  with  faith  in  God,  with  sacrificial 
living  and  giving,  and  with  undiscourageable 
intercession. 

''He   has   sounded   forth   the   trumpet   that   shall 
never  call  retreat. 
He  is  sifting  out  the  hearts  of  men  before  his 

judgment  seat. 
Oh,  be  swift,  my  soul,  to  answer  him;  be  jubi- 
lant, my  feet ! 
Our  God  is  marching  on." 


